different mothers, they're like brothers from the same mother. they're like brothers. attorney general, coach. coach, attorney general. switch the glasses. could you tell? do your job. that does it for us tonight. we'll see you again tomorrow. [ music playing ] this morning, questions over when the public will get to see mueller's final report. the justice department now saying it will be weeks not months. this as we learn it was obstruction, not collusion. >> that worried trump's legal team the most. plus the battle over healthcare is back on. president trump is renewing the fight to end obamacare. even though the issue ended in 2018. a twist in the case with jussie smollett. prosecutors dropped all charges against the actor. some officials in chicago are not happy about it.

good morning, everyone, it is wednesday, march 27th. i'm ayman mohyeldin. alongside yasmin vossoughian. as the trump department appeared yesterday to say they will not meet house democrat's dead line to receive the full report on russian interference, american voters want it disclosed. a quinnipiac poll found that 84% agree robert mueller's report should be made public. the sentiment crosses ever demographic affiliation, including 75% of republicans wanting the report out. yesterday, house speaker nancy pelosi suggested that attorney general william barr's summary was written to protect the president? right now, the message should be clearly, let us see this report. we don't need an interpretation by attorney general who is appointed for a particular job to make sure the president is above the law.

>> so tomorrow bill barr, another trump employee made the decision not to bring charges of obstruction of justice against the president, something mueller decided. now mueller is being criticized from both side of the investigation. last night fired fbi director jim comey told an audience, quote, the part that's confusing us, i can't quite understand what's going on with the obstruction stuff and i have great faith in bob mueller. but i just can't tell from the letter why didn't he decide these questions when the entire rationale for a special counsel is to make sure the politicals aren't making the key charging decisions. in an interview on fox news, rudy guiliani speculated mueller was overruled calling mueller quote weak and pathetic. >> the president said the report couldn't have been better, do you agree with that, the report couldn't have been bet 'er especially probably did 100 of those declarations letter.

i haven't seen one stronger. >> i thought that was a weak sister moment. >> weak and totally unethic am. you are not supposed to say that in a declaration let zpler why didit. >> i think there are two side of mueller, there is the good guy side and the weissman side. i think weissman won a few of the battles. i do think it's pathetic mueller couldn't make up his mind, i absolutely do. >> nbc reports that obstruction of justice appears to be the focus from president trump's legal team with resources saying that obstruction, not collusion, what worried them the most. the sources say the trump lawyers dealt directly with mueller's office, by the time they arrived, mueller's prosecutors rarely asked questions about russia and instead wanted to know what was in trump's head when he fired fbi director james comey and what was his intent when he denounced the russia investigation on twitter. to find that out, mueller's team

wanted to interview trump and made several formal requests. trump's legal team resisted without ever saying no the subpoena never materialized through months of negotiation, last night, rudy guiliani claimed that stringing mueller's office along was all a part of their strategy. >> he couldn't get you guys to bring the president in to sit down for questioning. why would you? did you ever get close to sitting down, the president sitting down with the mueller team? >> we let them think we were. >> all right. . ahead of the 2020 election, they are back in the headlines, they asked to fully repeal the democrats. giving them a chance to pursue the issue that damaged republicans. in 2018, democrats flipped 40 house seats and smashed the watergate records for the largest victory in a mid-term election for several parties. several top republicans pla imthe losses on healthcare.

acting republican kevin cramer says the reason he is focusing on healthcare, he laughed and said quote, that's a food way to put it. senator lindsey graham said we've done enough to go over obamacare but nothing to replace it. >> and two key cabinet secretaries. democrats seized on administration's move yesterday unveiling plans to bolster the affordable care act. meanwhile, during a lunch with senate republicans, president trump is suggesting the gop embrace the new battle over healthcare policy ahead of 2020. . . >> let me just tell you exactly what my message is. the republican party will soon be known as the party of healthcare. you watch. >> president trump said the republican party will be the party of healthcare.

if that is true, god help middle class americans. >> joining us from washington, d.c., nbc news capitol reporter le anne caldwell. glad to have you with us. let's talk about this pivot not focusing on the issue of healthcare. how significant do you believe the healthcare battle will be in the upcoming 2020 election? >> it's going to be extremely significant. if 2020 is anything like the 2018 election, democrats know that they won the house overwhelmingly on the issue and now president trump is coming around to that idea, too. the republican party needs to do something about healthcare. he realizes that they lost beg time in the house in 2018 and that's why he made that pronouncement yesterday. but it's going to be extremely difficult for republicans. they have been trying to undo obamacare for the past two-an-a-half years, now with this justice department deciding it's financial to try to

invalidate the entire law. republicans have to make go a long way to try to become the party of healthcare. trump and his meeting with republicans yesterday, they offered no -- he offered no details on what a new healthcare plan would be and it also came on the exact same day that democrats unveiled their new legislation to not only shore up obamacare but to expand it so democrats are thrilled if 2020 is going to be all about healthcare. >> let's talk quickly about some of these new polls that we have been seeing with regards to the release of the mueller report. in the past, many of the people that were polled, a lot of the voters said they didn't necessarily care about the russia investigation. in fact, now, those very people want this mueller report to be publicly released. what do you make of that? >> yeah, this investigation has been going on for almost a year or two years, really. so it's not a partisan issue

that people want to see what is in the mueller report. that's evidenced in the house of representatives voting unanimously a couple weeks ago to release this report. but circling back to this healthcare issue, i was on the campaign trail over the weekend as well as several other of our nbc road warrior colleagues, we all found that the mueller report was not an issue that was top of mind of voters. instead, they brought up issues of healthcare, the economy, college debt, and so, while the mueller report is in the background and dominating the news, really, voters definitely want to see what's in it. but they also care about their paychecks. >> i think that's why people are recognizing the healthcare as leag leigh anne is talking about, it comes down to affecting the people. people could be losing their healthcare, hundreds of thousands of people. >> all right.

leigh anne caldwell. we will talk now a bit. >> thanks. the $1 billion they decided to build trump's border wall will come from a militaryk, acting defense patrick shanahan told arms services the funds were freed up after service branches did not meet the recruiting goals and the construction of the if ens will not interfere with military readiness. he added funding will nearly double the $1.3 billion congress has already authorized for the wall. meanwhile, they failed to repeal his declaration on the southern border. the 248-181 vote fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to overturn a presidential veto. >> the senate failed to advance the green new deal yesterday after they said it was a politically motivated show vote. to clear the procedural hurdle failed in a 0-57 vote.

43 democrats voted in protest of the republican tactic togs get them on the record. three democratic senators, doug jones of alabama, joe manchin of west virginia and kristen cinema voted with the republicans. some republicans used the moment to poke fun of the deal before the vote. white house this. >> i rise today to consider the green new deal with the seriousness it deserves. this is, of course, a pick of former president ronald reagan, naturally firing a machine fun while riding on the back of a dinosaur. this image has as much to do with overcoming communism in the 20th century as the green new deal has to do with overcoming climate change in the 21st. >> okay.

but senate democrats, excuse me, were not laughing. >> the whole plan of the republican leader here is backfiring. we're not going to stand for sham bills that the other side is all voting no on. they know what a trick and joke and sham that is. so does all the american people. but we are finally talking about the issue and that is great. because climate change is not a joke. it's not a hoax. it's a crisis. and that's why we're doing these things. >> all right. still ahead, in a surprising move, prosecutors in chicago dropped all 16 charges against "empire" actor jussie smollett. we will talk to legal analyst danny sa vallas about what happened and why a boeing 737 max jet scare, a southwest plane had to make an emergency landing because of engine problems shortly after takeoff. those stories and of course your weather when we come back. s andr weather when we come back. sometimes, the pressures of today's world can make it tough

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. welcome back, everybody. in a shocking move prosecutor itself announced they dropped all charges against jussie smollett. it was weeks after smollett had been indicted on 16 felony counts of filing a false police report in january. smollett made a deal to perform two days of community service and forfeit his $10,000 bond to the city of chicago. even though the charges against smollett have been dropped, though, he is not entirely vindicated as prosecutors say they believe he organized the assault against himself, however, the actor stand by his innocence. >> i have been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one. i would not be my mother's son if i was capable of one drop of what i was accused of. this has been an incredibly

difficult time. obviously, one of the worst of my entire life. but i am a man of faith and i am a man that has only in of my history and i would not bring my family, our lives or the movement through a fire like this. >> the player and rahm ae manual were outraged for prosecutors for dropping the charges. >> gay when and women will come forward and say one day they were a victim of a hate crime who now will be doubted. people of faith, muslim or any other religious faith will be a victim of hate crimes, people that of also of all walks of life and backgrounds, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation. now this karsts a shadow and he did this all in the name of self promotion. he used the laws of the hate crime legislation that all of us collectively over years have put on the books to stand up to be the values that embody what we believe in. this is a whitewash of justice. >> joining us now msnbc legal

analyst danny savalas. we were actually on air yesterday when it broke. it was shocking when it actually happened. the twists and turns after that especially finding out that the chicago police department didn't know this was going to take place, how out rage they'd are hearing from the macrohow outraged they were when the charges were drochltd walk us through what happened. >> yesterday, while we were on the air, initially breaking news, my thought was to walk into the form and nul pros, a latin term which means stop their prosecution of their own accord, meant to me there must be something fatally wrong with the case. as the story developed, the chicago pd was ought on board with it. the mayor doesn't have to be. even the prosecution appears to be believe that they had sufficient evidence to bring those charges. and instead what this was, was a

prosecutorial decision to not prosecute and to agree to community service and to have his record expunged. i have to tell you, this is a grey area that criminal defense attorneys like me live in. it works like this, when have you these high volume, no violent crimes often prosecutors will offer deals like this, essentially, hey, maybe you go to probation, maybe you do some community service. we still think you did it, we're not financial to prosecute and we'll come back in six months, if you haven't robbed a bank, then the case is dismissed. something in that realm and the reality is this goes on thousands of times every day in courts across the country and the relevant question is, truly, in chicago, is this a deal that is offered to similarly situated felony disorderly conduct offenders or people who have been charged with na crime? if it is. >> a bigger question. >> then that might be a fair deal. if it is not and this is special treatment, then that is

something to be looked at. the reality is, though, because the record is expunged and the government is probably fought going to be interested in handing over their files, this is something we aren't going to get a mueller report on. >> so i was watching yesterday, the sense i got with watching that press conference with rahm emanuel and the police chief. there was a lot of anger out there. a lot of people are considering that decision. considering this is a one off case and not the pattern of behavior among this state attorney's officer, could we see an investigation by other legal agencies, someone higher than state attorney investigate why this particular case was let go, why jussie smollett was let off the hook? >> you mean a higher power like the federal government the federal government is already -- >> is that the authority that can investigate that. or is there someone else in the state of illinois that can investigate that state attorney's decision? >> yes, i think the attorney

general's office and federal authorities could if they felt it felt under the rubrick of civil rights, possibly and arguably there is a case there because the argument would be that jussie abused the civil rights laws of this country. i think that's a little bit of a stretch. the reality is prosecutors had the discretion to nolle pros a case and they normally don't get discrimination. the whole point of nolle prosing a case is so they don't have to do work on it. the reality is criminal attorneys like me, we're not asking for a memo. we're glad the case has been dropped. that's the best outcome. >> we are probably never going to know why the decision was made. >> unless the government is willing to give it up. by the government, i 19 state attorney's office or a foyer request comes down the lane some time in the near future. >> it's a pleasure. we'll see you later on "morning joe." don't go too far. with that, we switch gears, bring if bill kierans with a

check of the weather. >> hey, another cold one in the northeast and the ohio valley. besides that, we have rain and thunderstorms in north florida. it's almost like a nor'easter event. these storms develop off the east coast. they're very raw, not a great beach day by any means from volusia county up to jacksonville and savannah and charleston, not a beautiful day. there's forecast. we will get up to the 40s in areas of the northeast. the warm-up will be in the middle of the country, starting in texas. it will shoot northward. this unseasonably warm air is bad for one reason. there is still snow in areas of the northern plains. we have rivers that are high. we will melt that snow quickly. we will get rain on top of that, that's why we will have more flooding to deal with. temperatures today will be 15 to 20 degrees above normal in areas of the nebraska. omaha, 73, denver will be around 75 degrees. then as we no towards the other areas, this is about 15 degrees

above average. as far as the snow pack goes, this shows you where the know is on the ground still. we are seeing significant melting. everything here in the orange and red is receiving significant snow melt. about six inches will be melting. we will wait to see how this plays out. i know we have another significant round of flooding through the weekend. still ahead, mitch mcconnell takes a swipe at democrats, house speaker nancy pelosi sounds a commitment to end anti-semitism. we will show you their new comments next. ism. we will show you their new comments next. about 50% of people with severe asthma have too many cells called eosinophils in their lungs. eosinophils are a key cause of severe asthma. fasenra is designed to target and remove these cells. fasenra is an add-on injection for people 12 and up with asthma driven by eosinophils. fasenra is not a rescue medicine or for other eosinophilic conditions.

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house speaker nancy pelosi reaffirmed support of israel and denounced anti-semitism yesterday. >> israel and perk are connected now and forever. we will never allow anyone to make israel a web wedge issue. >> that pledge is proudly honored in this congress with support for israel remain iron clad and bipartisan. >> and her stance comes in the wake of comments by two democratic lawmakers, which were considered anti-semitic by some critics, including president trump, who has since called democrats quote anti-israel and anti-jewish. republican senate majority leader mitch mcconnell echoed

that sentiment yesterday. >> for many word such words and tropes were limited to the fringes, sadly, they've recently received new prominence having been repeated and retweeted by a sitting member of congress. i'm troubled that leading democrats seem reluctant to finally call out problems within their own ranks. >> so other speakers at the conference took jabs at democratic congress ma'am ilhan omar on social media. embattled prime minister benjamin netia anyahu said from this benjamin, it's not about the benjamins. president trump is still voicing criticism. he is reportedly complaining about the amount of disaster aid going to the island. one of the key figures robert mueller's contacts with foreign nationals. we are back in a moment if with that. if with

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welcome back, everyone, i'm yasmin vossoughian, alongside with ayman mohyeldin. we want to begin with healthcare. we get the practical implications in a moment. first to international correspondent peter alexander has the latest. >> reporter: from president trump, a promise without a prescription. >> the republican party will soon be known as the party of

healthcare, you watch. >> reporter: that vow following a surprising move by his justice department escalating his attack on obamacare. telling the federal appeals court it's unconstitutional and should be scrapped agreeing with a lower court ruling. until now, the federal government was arguing only parts of the law including its protections for people with pre-existing conditions should be struck down. if the court agrees, more than 28 million americans can lose their health insurance gained through medicare expansion and obamacare changes. democrats say it helped propel them to take back the house. >> the gop will never stop trying to stop healthcare for american families. >> reporter: experts say it will likely be a year before the legal fight is resolved. >> thank you for that report. meanwhile, politico is reporting the trump administration made the decision

despite the objections of two key cabinet officials, health and human services and attorney general william barr. they said it will take weeks not months to make a version public. lindsey graham says william barr told him is the delay is so that classified information, grand jury testimony and other sensitive material can be removed. >> i want as much information as reasonably possible as soon as possible. i want barr to come to me to answer questions. it's not a deadline deal as much as a process. i think this process can be accomplished if weeks, fought months. >> graham said he spoke to the president last night and the president did not object to the report being made public. attorney general barr will appear before the judiciary committee sometime next month. joining us from washington, reporter leigh anne caldwell.

we know the report ayman was talking about will be available in weeks not month,s, while attorney general barr will testify next month. we will likely hear from him as well. where do you think this battle is heading? >>. >> reporter: yeah, i don't think the democrats will be satisfied until they see the entire report. they see william barr appointed by the president and perhaps protecting the president. democrats are careful to draw that line. they're not saying that barr lied or misrepresented the mueller report. they don't necessarily trust. they think there could be a lot more in it. especially on the obstruction part. until it is released, democrats will continue to hound this issue. of course, they will be thrilled to get barr before the committee. they do want to grill him. so the mueller report is not a closed story yet. >> let's turn to healthcare at the moment. what would be the political ramification for reigniting this

obamacare debate given that republicans did not do so well the first time around and it cost them politically mount mid-term? >> reporter: sure, healthcare is a tricky issue despite republicans coming out saying yesterday is republican party is going to be the party of healthcare. but, his own justice department and according to reports despite criticisms and from his own attorney general barr who didn't want to move forward with this, the justice department anyway decided to try to undo the entire law. this is going to take months in the court so republicans want to come one a new healthcare plan. they don't have a lot of time. they tried to undeal, undo obamacare two years ago when they had control of both the house and the senate. they don't have that anymore. so coming up with a new healthcare plan is going to be a major uphill battle heading into

2020. >> all right. leigm anne caldwell. thank you. all right, president trump says the mueller report quote could not have been better. the first poll came out shows almost no clang to his approval rating. the morning consol politico survey conducted monday and tuesday found 55% disapprove of the president's job performance, while 42 approve. a negative 13 point rating identical to the rating he had in last week's poll. yesterday, the president expressed no desire to move on and said claiming the investigation was politically orchestrated by the obama administration. orchestrated by the obama administration . >> i think went very high up. i think what happened is a disgrace. i don't believe our country should allow this ever to happen again. this will never happen again. we cannot let it ever happen

again. it went very high up. it started fairly low, but with instructions from the high up. instructions from the high up. . >> i don't want to say that, but i think you no at the answer. >> all right. we are also hearing from a key figure in the russia investigation, george papadopoulos, he is the former policy adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi with foreign nationals tied to officials. yesterday, papadopoulos explained to ari melber why he lied. >> it seemed like you were trying to play down your russian contacts to the fbi, is that right? >> i was trying to play down what i thought were my russian contacts at the time. >> understood so you were trying to play it down, why? >> because i felt i guess i failed in that mission to connect trump to vladimir putin. i ended up successfully introducing him to the egyptian president. so i was thinking to myself. if the fbi is trying to talk to me about russia conspiracy and

the entire campaign and trump. why would i get those guys involved when it was my mea culpa. >> one, do you stand by your guilty plea? >> yes. >> two, do you want to get a pardon from president trump? >> i am not asking. i know my lawyers have formally applying for one, if i am granted one,ly treat it with honor. >> still ahead another scare involving a boeing 737 max jet. we have the latest on that. a new report accuses the president of inflating the costs of puerto rico's recovery if an attempt to deny the island funding. what he reportedly said to a group of republican senator, yesterday. plus the pope at another viral moment. this time the long-time catholic tradition of bowing to kiss the papal ring. we will talk about it next. e papal ring we will talk about it next

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. the war in yemen is in it's fifth year. it claims to grab the lives of civilians. they had another airstrike yesterday that killed seven people including four children at a hospital in the northwest part of the country. >> that medical center was supported by the organization's save the children. the group called the strike, which hit a nearby gas station a gross violation of humanitarian law. tens of thousands of people, both fighters and civilians have been killed in the long running war and millions have been displaced. earlier this month the senate passed a resolution to end a resolution setting up a presidential veto. all right. a boeing 737 max 8 jet made an emergency landing at orlando international airport almost two weeks after they grounded the plane after two fatal crashes in indonesia and ethiopia. a spokesperson for southwest airlines told nbc news the jet was flying to california for

storage when an engine overheated just before 3:00 p.m. they said the pilot's reported a performance issue with one of the engines shortly after takeoff. it was in the air 11 minutes and landed safely at the airport. no passengers were on the plane, the issue whereas was fought related to the issues on the jet. airlines are allowed to fly them for the purpose of storm or mapt fans. as puerto rico continues the difficult recovery process from 2017's hurricane maria, the president thinks the u.s. territory is receiving too much aid money. during an hour-long mon log with separate republicans yesterday, president trump reportedly ranted about the amount of disaster aid designated for the island, saying it was too high. officials familiar with the meeting are telling the washington post that account. trump reportedly stated that texas and south carolina states hit by recent storms were awarded $29 billion and $1.5

billion respectively in aid. the president then claimed puerto rico got $91 billion adding you could buy the island four times over for that amount. however, it appears that trump may be confusing the amount of aid money approved by congress and an estimate of the amount of the damage. congress appropriated 10 to $20 billion in hud funds for puerto rico, while fema has spent only $35 billion more. trump who once tossed paper towels to a crowd of puerto ricans shortly after hurricane. you see it there on the screen, has in the past reportedly asked advisers to reduce money for puerto rico. the president has also publicly refuted the estimated death toll from this storm. >> all right. let's get a check now on your weather with bill kierans. >> you reminded me, we are almost out of march. we have two months until we get to hurricane season. >> not something necessarily we look forward to. >> i never do.

once again, the temperatures, it's cold in new england, the great lakes and the ohio valley. we're at 18 in burlington. d.c. is at 32. as far south as jackson, mississippi, we're feeling like 41 degrees, the big warm-up is on its way, though. it's starting in areas of the central plains, today we will see temperatures soaring through nebraska, the doevenlths i mentioned earlier, that's a problem. we will do a lot of snow melt today. we have northeast winds brigg chillier temperatures. tampa, orlando, jacksonville, gainesville, it was ugly here in the southeast coast. kansas city, beautiful, 71, ten ver at 73 degrees. eventually this warm air senior headed into areas that are chilly this morning. by thursday, chicago is up to 59. nashville, for just, 73 degrees for your thursday. it's not until friday or saturday that on the east coast we experience, new york city 70 on saturday, sunday is a little cooler. charlotte should be in the 70s friday and saturday. the cool down happens in the middle of the country.

this is our rain event. we if et the snow melt, the rain and we will have to deal with the flooding all over again, starting this weekend, lasting into next week the timing on our next big rain storm. this will be thursday, tomorrow morning into the afternoon, more rain over the areas of the missouri river to kansas city and st. louis. it slides into illinois, slow moving, too. rainfall totals will be right around one-to-two inches in this region. this is the mississippi river here. this is the missouri river. when we add the rainfall on top of that we will watch one inch to about an inch-and-a-half. we'll watch that into the weekend. do you guys get your special treat from maddie's mom, our "morning joe" cookies? you didn't see these? >> maddie. >> maddie been give you these? >> maddie didn't make that cut. >> these are hand made. >> the problem is bill probably got some before we could. >> he ate the whole box. >> this is only my third, wait,

how many are there? three of us. >> well, maddie, thanks, for that. >> thanks, bill. the pope is once again at the center of another controversy between progressive and roman catholics. during a visit at a check shrine in italy, he withdrew his hand to keep people from kissing his ring. the individual went viral with one website calling the pope's acts disturbing. while another tweeted frances, if you don't want to be the vicar of christ, get out of there. a jesuit breast says it's high time kissing bishop's rings disappears. another said they are making sure they engage with him, not treat him like a relic. she a vicar of christ not an -- he began up'ing it at the end to speed things up. >> what an interesting dynamic. especially those that watch the pope closely. new reporting on how much the president's trade war is costing consumers.

>> the making of oxycontin agrees to a settlement. a look at the stories driving your business day straight ahead. (deep breath)

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constructing maps based on state wide voter breakdown. he questioned whether a solution should be found on the courts rather than on the state level. they challenged the in north carolina and the state of maryland. it is the justice's second chance to deliver a definitive ruling on whether partisan restricting violates voters rights after failing to reach consensus last year. as u.s. and chinese nearbiers begnearbier negotiators begin a fresh round of talks, they tallied the cost of the trade tactics on consumers to the tune of $1.4 billion lost over the month. what goes through the numbers? >> this study was done by the federal reserve bank of new york alongside princeton and columbia universities and they found the u.s. tariffs have cost american consumers at least $6.9 billion

last year. they found that the tariffs were almost completely passed through to u.s. domestic prices. so essentially the entire burden of the tariffs have fallen on consumers they also found that consumers are affected so far as the variety of goods that they're purchasing, they also found that they have caused turmoil in supply chains. in other business news, i want to highlight progress we have seen on the oxycontinmaker purdue pharma case. they were subject to accusations from oklahoma state that they ruthlessly marketed and misled the dangers of their highly addictive narcotics and they have actually settled with the state of oklahoma, they are -- have agreed to pay $270 million, part of that will be a more than $100 million contribution to fund a national center for addiction studies at oklahoma state university. just to remind you, previous lit

company had denied any wrongdoing, saying that their labels did clearly note the dangers. so interesting now to see they have agreed to settle to the tune of $270 million. >> incredible development in that story there and that trial. >> yeah. it was an ongoing story for quite some time and involving this opioid crisis that has really taken hold of this country. thank you so much, live from london, thanks. up next, mike alan has a look at the next big thing and coming up on "morning joe." >> is the president now risking his own re-election and his party senate majority by trying to get rid of obamacare. a new timeline for the release of the mueller report, but it may not be soon enough for some democrats. "morning joe" moments away. e democrats. "morning joe" moments away (burke) at farmers, we've seen almost everything, so we know how to cover almost anything. even rooftop parking.

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thing. >> inside the trump campaign's plan of attack. so democrats haven't all even announced, i think we're probably getting vice president biden early in april. but the trump campaign is already getting ready to go after them. the republican national committee, which is doing the opposition research part of the trump re-election campaign already has trackers in the early states with the 2020 candidates, especially trying to grab them in small settings, remote settings where they may get less coverage stocking up that footage, trying to especially highlight proposals or ideas that in the general election campaign could be used to make them seem liberal extreme. >> mike, i also know you have a scoop about a possible future stop on trump's post-mueller victory lap. what are you learning? >> so we're seeing here on msnbc president trump's victory lap up

on capitol hill, described as exuberant. we see the president now trying to go whole hog, take out the affordable care act. axios has learned that the president is open to the idea of attending this year's white house correspondents association dinner. >> oh, interesting. >> yes. so this is -- apparently the president is thinking about it. nothing has been decided. of course, the first two years of his presidency he boycotted it and we're told now that he hasn't said no, not clear how serious he is about it, but, of course, this could be very awkward for both sides. since that mueller report, the president quadrupling down, quintupling down in his twitter feed again, talking about the press as the enemy of the people, extending it beyond fake news as they tried to say that he was referring to in the past and referring to the mainstream media in general.

this poses a real dilemma for both sides. >> what is the over/under that president trump goes to the correspondents' dinner and attacks the press at the same time if he does go. >> i say pretty assured. >> pretty assured. mike, your thoughts on another piece of reporting you have at axios about the gop plans to weaponize the green new deal. that vote yesterday on the hill that some described as a sham. >> yeah. so yesterday when democrats all voted, the president didn't vote for procedural vote on the green new deal. after that, or the same day as the president spoke to the senate republican lunch, we're hearing from the senate republican aide that the president said don't kill it too badly because i want to run against it in 2020. so republicans like the idea of having this as an issue shortly after that vote where they now can say that democrats did not

vote for it. senate republicans popping out a video very quickly with democrats talking about the green new deal. so the reason that they voted present, very washington thing, for or against, is they thought that senate -- the senate republicans were doing this as a trap for them and they were right. >> all right, mike allen live in washington, d.c. for us, always a pleasure. appreciate it. we'll be reading axios a.m. in a bit. you can sign up for the newsletter. signup.axios.com. >> that does it for us this morning. "morning joe" starts right now. as predicted, exit polls show health care to be the most important issue for voters nationwide. 41% put it at the top of the list. 23% said immigration is the most important issue. 22% said the economy. 10% said gun policy. >> so that was our reporting here on "morning joe" just hours

after a wave election last november put democrats back in control of the house. now republicans are trying to get ahead of the issue in 2020, a fight democrats are happy to have when "new york times" reporter maggie haberman asked why they would challenge the affordable care act on the heels of trump's best two days in office, well, that official dead panned. quote, too much positive news. we need to change the subject, i guess, and go back to doing destructive things. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it is wednesday, march 27th. with us we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle, white house reporter for the associated press jonathan la lamier, richard haass is with us, msnbc political analyst and former chairman of the republican national committee michael steele is here this