senator hollings died this weekend age 97. i had the honor working for him briefly as a student at wofford college. he was quick-whitted and generous with his time. wrapping up this hour. "andrea mitchell reports" starts out in. and president trump forcing out his controversial homeland security secretary after berating her more than a year for not being hard enough. >> our country is full. we're full. our system is full our country is full. can't come in. our country is full. what can you do? we can't handful anymore. our country it full. can't come in. sorry. it's very simple. and coming up, benny thompson, congressman. and getting personal. mayor pete buttigieg opening up about his struggle with his own sexuality. >> if you had offered me a pill

to make me straight i would have swallowed it before you had time to give me a sip of water. thank god there was no pill. and no drama obama. the former president issuing a warning to 2020 democrats not to turn against each other. >> i'm sorry this is how it's going to be, and then we start sometimes creating what's called a circular firing squad, where you start shooting at your allies, because one of them is straying from purity on the issues. coming up here, longtime obama adviser, valerie jarrett joins us next. and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington where arguably the most critical department of all, homeland security, is now without a leader as the president defrg napts a

hard-line anti-imgrand aide inside the white house to direct policy and looks for a successor to homeland security secretary kirstjen nielsen. despite yielding to his pressure and supporting inflammatory separation of children policy, separating kids from their parents, critics say exacerbated a humanitarian disaster and will damage families for years if not decades to come. despite protests from nielsen the president wants to reinstate that child separation policy playing to his base. part of are his re-election strategy. julia ainsley joins me now reporting on this overnight and now this reinstatement pending of the separation policy. let's talk about kirstjen nielsen, because the criticism from democrats has been that she went along with jeff sessions. she defended it, she went along with almost everything, yet your reporting is internally she was trying to push back when she

could? >> reporter: that's right, andrea. the timing here matters. in may of 2018, she did agree this might be a possibility in order to prosecute families who were crossing the border illegally. she said they needed to be separated. what she pushed back on in 2019 was not the morals of that policy, but just the legal logistics parts of it saying because of what happened after that policy the president's own executive order freezing the separation of families and a court case that called for reunification of those families, it wouldn't legally be possible. so she resisted on those grounds. the president grew more furious as the numbers got high around we know between january and now in april the tensions around her grew quite strong as she resisted and the president continued to push for harder policies. we also have more details, andrea, on what exactly that new family separation policy would have looked like. something called binary choice where parents would have been given two very hard choices between either bringing their

children with them into long-term detention as they wait for their asylum hearing or to separate from their child in order for the chao ed to get out and potentially go into the care of hhs or other sponsors. but you're right to point out that nielsen was not soft. just last week she was sending notifications to the hill to say they would be sending language to try to deport children more quickly. she was someone who really wanted to deter this migration, trying to do it through legal channels and the president didn't think she was willing to go far enough. >> on top of that, she went along without protest -- excuse me, without protest last week when the president unexpectedly tweeted he was canceling federal aid to the northern triangle countries. even as officials we know in those countries were meeting with an nbc news team, kerry sanders and our whole team in el salvador talking about the effectiveness, part of the

funding for the fbi anti-gang funding? >> reporter: right. >> the goal, make life a little better so people stay here instead of joining care vans he -- caravanses. >> we're heading into an area that has a heavy concentration of gang members. ms-13, where residents have been told get out of your houses or we're going to kill you. >> reporter: the problem so pervasive even current gang members say there's no way to control it. former ms-13 member edwin iftel where he's headed once released. >> reporter: that's the united states? >> yes. >> and maybe mike pompeo is going along with it at the top. the fact we're getting rid of the last amount of aid if the president's order is carried out and if congress doesn't object, aid to these countries, el

salvador and guatemala and others, that's was saiding to the solution to these problems? >> reporter: right. what led to nielsen's ouster and that the administration is focused how to make things really tough for people who come across the border. not on why they leave in the first place what they call the push factor, the violence, poverty, the gangs controlling those neighborhoods. the reason why people are coming here and claiming asylum overwhelmingly because of threats because of gangs. focused on what they can do here to negate the poll factors and trying to do it through any means possible while canceling that. an insight where the administration is going next as nielsen seen as one of the toughest on immigration leaves. the answer, they might be going in a tougher direction. >> indeed they are. very clearly. thanks so much for all of your

reporting on this. the frustration with secretary nielsen extended, of course, to congress where lawmakers repeatedly voiced concerns about her immigration policy. chief among them, the separation of families at the border. the detention of children. highlighted by an exchange tweak nielsen and homeland security can chair benny thompson just a month ago. >> trying to answer yore question. >> yes or no. are we still putting children in cages? >> to my knowledge, cbp never purposely put a child in a cage, if you mean a cage like this. >> purportly or whatever, are we are putting children in cages? as of today? >> children are processed at the border facility stations that you've been at. some of -- >> and i've seen the cages. i just want you to admit that the kamps exist. >> sir, they're not cages. >> when is a cage not a cage? chairman benny thompson. thank you for being with us. this was clearly inevitable, her departure, given the way the

president was treating her and saying that stephen miller, the hard-line anti-immigration advocate inside the white house would be the point person on immigration from now on. but your thoughts about her formal departure? >> well, it was inevitable, andrea. she was above her head. it's impossible to work, in my estimation, for president trump on immigration. he has a mind-set that is absolutely unimaginable as it relates to immigration. so for her, it was a job that she could not win in. she was set for failure. i'm really concerned what the moocher may how old now that she's out. >> to that point, the deputy acting secretary, the deputy secretary has been long gone, the deputy secretary would be in

line instead the president is reaching down to a career person kevin mcaleenan. acting secretary unless the deputy acting secretary legally challenges this and signaled to the "new york times" she will. we don't know if that will happen. look at the vacancies. maybe hhs is more important because of social security but hhs, 22 departments includes so many aspects of our national security. given the cabinet vacancies and how important homeland is, how are you going to deal with this? >> well, i think it's very difficult. first of all, you have to have some people in charge. temporary acting people won't get the job done, and if we have, indeed, this so-called crisis at the border, now is the time to have steady leadership, now is the time to have leadership that's consistent, and we have just the opposite. so clearly, this administration

is in a state of flux. the president continues to confuse the issues along the border. this notion of the northern triangle countries not being able to get support from this country only makes the situation worse. so somebody needs to sit and say to the president, mr. president, let the professionals do it. you can't do it by twitter. >> he thinks that's the deep state. and nancy pelosi in part of her statement was that it is deeply alarming that the trump administration official who put children in cages is reportedly resigning because she is not extreme enough for the white house's liking which raises the question about stephen miller. stephen miller is the person the president says he trusts to run immigration, yet he's not congressionally confirmed. so can you mandate that he come and testify or does he, like other members of the white house team, avoid your reach?

>> well, at this point, he avoids the reach from the committee's standpoint. we have a budget that someone has to come on may 1 to defend before the house homeland security committee. at this point, we don't know who that individual might be. so there are a lot of things we have to address. the real challenge for us is leadership at the top. our men and women who are doing a good job along the border need sound, solid leadership. it's not there, andrea, and unless his president steps back, gepts steph gets stephen miller and some of the individuals conflounding this situation out of the way we're in serious trouble. i hope what i'm hearing, that this family separation policy is going to be ramped up again -- part of the reason we are in

this trouble now is somebody had the bright idea that this was being tough on immigration. i can't see how picking on children makes adults tough. so we have to move forward on this. i look forward to this administration if they're serious to sit down and talk to our leadership on the house democratic side and say this is what we want, but you can't do it by tweets. men and women adults have to sit down and work out our differences. >> well, with all due respect, i think after two years i don't think we're going to see that kind of a dramatic change, but congressman, i know you'll be all over this. thank you for taking the time today. appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. and right now, kirstjen nielsen has come out of her house. i believe in alexandria, virginia, and may be speaking to cameras maybe wanting to defend herself. she said she resigned, it was

clear she was forced to resign. submitted a letter of resignation after being called out at a cabinet meeting. >> i don't have any new announcements, i just want to thank the president again for the tremendous opportunity to serve this country. i'm forever grateful and proud of the men and women of dhs who work so hard every day to execute their missions and protect the homeland. i really look forward to continuing to support them from the outside. i spent the last 24 hours since yesterday talking with government officials, with administration officials, members of congress, to ensure a smooth transition. as you know, dhs has a vast array of missions and i want to make sure we execute them all with excellence through the the transition. i share the president's goal of securing the border and will continue to support all efforts to address the humanitarian and security crisis on the border. other that, i'm on my way to keep doing what i can for the next few days. so thank you all for being here.

>> clearly not taking any questions. kirstjen nielsen has said that she will be out by wednesday. so this is the shortest transition out. this is not even a week or a two-week notice. it's clear this was a very abrupt separation of kirstjen nielsen from homeland security. julia ainsley, are you still with us over at doj? yes, indeed you are. >> reporter: yes. i just heard that. >> and other missions beyond immigration, the secret service, in itself has been challenged in recent years. with were the most important mission to protect not only the president, the vice president, top officials, visiting dignitaries, but, you know, counterintelligence. counterfeiting, cyber, a whole range of important homeland security missions. what about the secret service and the rest of the 22 agencies that were molded into homeland a

little, with some difficulty back after 9/11? >> reporter: that's right, andrea. a lot of people might forget that secret service used to be under the treasury department and some people inside will blame its molding under dhs after september 11th for a lot of the problems. it simply became part of this behemoth agency and the management structure fwhaen place to keep out some people who shouldn't be working in certain positions and to hold people accountable. we've seen issues over the past few years in the obama administration as well of men and women in secret service having scandals or things that come up where things get through they should have caught. there's that and fema. think about the fema response to hurricanes like in puerto rico. that agency got a lot of criticism. we've seen how the president can use fema money in a way to move it around to move more people to the boarder. it puts it all in a pot where a lot of people have said that sometimes from a financial perspective and from a

management perspective, these places, individual agencies that came under one, the department of homeland security should have been separated out. it's important to remember that when kevin mcaleenan becomes acting secretary he is taking on not just immigration but so much else. dhs was designed after september 11th to prevent another september 11th. they have lots of missions under their one umbrella and cbp alone which he has been the commissioner of, is the largest law enforcement organization in the country. it has over 60,000 employees versus the fbi across the street from me here that's only 35,000. that's just one component. not to mention i.c.e., secret service, fema, everyone who falls under dhs. one of the criticisms of nielsen when she came on she didn't have the management experience. she had just been someone who came up along john kelly. kevin mcaleenan han overseen border protection but there are other areas. counterterrorism and cyber a lot of people would be asking questions about if he did get

nominated to take this on full-time. >> and, pete williams joins us, chief justice correspondent. you've been covering homeland through all of these iterations. the creation of homeland and all of its struggles, to get on its feet, and now it's again without a leader. >> without a leader. without a deputy secretary. without a head of fema. without a head of i.c.e. with no one in charge of the science and technology branch. this is the least well organized that the department of homeland security has been since it was stood up, andrea, and these constant changes and the inability to put someone in charge of these various factions according to some former dhs officials has created a certain amount of discontent in that agency. you know, there was a time when the department of homeland security rated last in terms of employee morale. that has steadily improved, but this may be a setback to it,

and's the real question for kevin mcaleenan is, he's going to be as equally bound by the restrictions of law and international treaties as his predecessor was or whoever will take over the job of homeland secretary. can any of those people acting in conformance with the law satisfy the president's demand for more action at the border? you know, she and the president have also talked about immigration law which they consider terrible. the fact is they're stuck with it and there's only a certain amount of things that they can do. so will anybody in that job be able to sasatisf to satisfy the? the other things, totally yoevlger shadows what normally and still is the department of homeland security's mission. i told my colleagues and julia when at reuters and would see her at homeland security briefings, i said, i used to

remember when he cautalked abou terrorism and homeland security. now all we talk about seems is immigration. >> exactly right. i was thinking of. the counterintelligence. the secret service. the counterfeiting, cyber. all the other things homeland is supposed to be doing. fema, julia mentioned as well. a lot of problems there. pete, i know you and julia will be all over this. this is a major blow and supposed to be the best managed government we would ever see, because we have a president who came out of business, but this agency is right now in dire straits. thank you both very much. coming up next, speaking his truth. with his star power on the rise, mayor pete buttigieg opening up about this journey of self-acceptance. stay with us right here. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. watching "anl reports" on msnbc. we switched.

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opening up about coming to terms with his sexuality. >> when are i was younger i would have done anything to not be gay. when i began to half way realize what it meant that i felt the way i did about people i saw in the hallway at school or the dining hall in college, it launched in me something i can only describe as a kind of war. if you had offered me a pill to make me straight i would have swallowed it before you had time to give me a sip of water. it is a hard thing to think about now. it's hashed rd to face the trutt there were times in my life if you had shown me inside of me that made me gay i would have cut it out with a knife. >> joining me, a representative from the human rights and from the planned parent action fund and msnbc political analyst, welcome to you all. i want to ask from the

perspective of the human rights campaign, here you had mayor pete on with chuck todd yesterday, and a range of issues. never did his sexuality, the gay issue come up, but then he gave a deeply personal speech, the same day, and what struck you about that and how things have changed for the gay community? >> well, you know, i think pete is certainly somebody who is inspiring the 10 million lgbtq voters across the country as is the fuel of candidates we see. his vun historic. the fact you mention when on chuck todd this weekend his sexuality did not come up as a sign of how far that we have come as a country. but he and chasten, who spoke at our houston dinner both shared and personal and all to familiar coming out stories this weekend and they remind us how far we have to go for full equality in

the country and we need to pass the equality act with a new president and why visibility is so critical in this country at this time. pete is providing that visibility right now. >> one of the things he said on "meet the press" and later at his speech was the hypocrisy. play a little of "meet the press." the hypocrisy to his mind, of the vevangelical movement endorsing president trump with his moral values and questioning gay rights. question kg other issues 67 personal choice. >> it's something that frustrates me because the hypocrisy is unbelievable. even on the version of christianity you hear from the religious right which is about sexual ethics. i can't believe that somebody who is caught writing hush money checks to adult film actresses is somebody they should be lifting up as the kind of person you want leading this nation. >> he also said in his speech last night if you have a problem with me, mike pence, you have a problem with my creator.

getting to his own religious beliefs. >> right. been an extraordinary candidate and i think he is dispelling a lot of myths and i really appreciate, too, he's been so forthright talking about issues that are really personal issues including reproduction rights he stood out on strongly over the weekend. >> what about the change in the climate, rick? according to the nbc news/"wall street journal" poll 68% of peel now polled say that they are comfortable with the idea of a gay man at president compared to something like 40-odd percent just a number of years ago? >> it's definitely changed and he is a remarkable candidate. i often say if we had a conservative on our side who could about tick late as well as he can, clearly as he can, we'd have a winner, but we don't. so i watched his interview and to some degree i was actually glad the issue didn't come up although it is an issue that will be discussed.

i just don't want him to be defined by this one issue as opposed -- got to be very careful that he's running for president to advance the goals of the american people. not advance the goals of one set of american people. although that would be, could be a by-product. he's going to be careful. >> he hasn't talked about it much. an event yesterday for the human rights campaign so that, that made sense. what he said with chuck todd about abortion. >> this is a question that is almost unknowable. a moral question that won't be settled by science. the best way for it to be settled in practice is by the person who actually faces the choice. when a woman is facing this decision in her life, in terms of somebody besides her who be mosting useful in that the answer is a doctor. not a male government official imposing his interpretation of his religion.

>> this comes at a time where georgia has the most restrictive state law anywhere in the country, i think, right now. >> right. >> this is going to be a challenging issue. >> absolutely. i think what mayor pete said is where the american people are including in the midwest. that is feeling that decisions about pregnancy should be made by the woman, by the pregnant person and with medical providers and not by politicians. i think this is going to continue to be an issue when you see not only the restrictions passed at the state level on action to safe and legal abortion but efforts by this administration to completely dismantle the national family planning program that provides birth control. these are issues that folk doss not see as partisan issues. i think they're related to why the republicans did so poorly with women in the november elections and i think it's a bit of a sign of trends in this country about where women feel like government is inappropriately intruding into their personal lives. >> is this going to be an era

where, and it's a continuation of what certainly started under president obama and other democratic candidates, but where the lgbtq community will be deeply engaged in the election process in these primaries? >> oh, absolutely. in 2018 we saw 7 million lgbtq voters and our allies join forces akocross the country to help flip this and the most diverse congress in american history. they'll be engaged deeply in the democratic primary and a driving force in the general election as well. issues of lgbtq are winning issues and look forward to hearing from all candidates at our october 10th presidential forum. no doubt lgbtq equality issues will be leading in this race. >> thank you all. great to see you. thank you very much. and coming up, the obama doctrine, take on your enemies,

not your friends. we discuss with his former top adviser valerie jarrett joining us next. stay with us i'm andrea mitchell on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc news. on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc news billions of mouths. billions of problems. dry mouth? parched mouth? cotton mouth? there's a therabreath for you. therabreath oral rinse and lozenges. help relieve dry mouth using natural enzymes to soothe and moisturize. so you can... breathe easy, there's therabreath at walmart.

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sorry. this is how it's going to be, and then we start sometimes creating what's called a circular firing squad, where you start shooting at your allies, because one of them is straying from purity on the issues. >> president barack obama in berlin saturday warning democrats against fighting amongst each other. when they need to be organizing to defeat donald trump. that was implicit. joining me, valerie jarrett, former senior adviser to president obama now senior adviser to the obama foundation. her new book is "finding my voice: my journey to the west wing and the path forward." great picture and cover. great book. >> thank you so much. >> congratulations. >> i appreciate it and have been looking forward to getting out on the book tour, finishing the book and now i'm here. thanks for having me on. >> well, here's the president, president obama, that is,

warning democrats as we have this incredibly large and diverse field. there really is a lot of bickering going on overtly and covertly. what is the -- what is his warning really all about? >> look, i think a few things. first of all, the strength of the democratic party is we've had a big tent where lots of ideas are welcome. that's what differentiates us and it's important. the second point is, keep the long view in mind. that is winning the general election and don't beat each other up so much that you go into the general election in a weaken the state since what we really want to do is for the party to take back the presidency, and the final point is when you govern, you find out that you cannot let perfect be the enemy of the good. it can't just be exactly your way. you're going to have to compromise a little bit and so be authentic and honest with the american people about your affirmative vision, earn their trust and try to explain to them how you're going to not just have big, bold ideas but how you're going to execute them.

that's the advice i've given candidates who sought my counsel and whan enabled president obama to win not once but twice. >> and the challenge nj ancy pelosi faces every day with a new class of democrats. trying to herd into into practical ledgelating and it's not just aoc brut other but ott to get things done and may not be politically viable? >> a terrific speaker. known her caucus. knows all their ideas and is able to figure out, all right. what's the art of the possible? also encourages them tope have big, bold ideas. that's what's been the greatness about our party and frankly our country. i'm delighted she's the speaker of the house and just hoot we need right now and going to -- jfk courage award. >> profiles of courage. what could be more appropriate? >> that is one award that means so much. it's bipartisan.

it's caroline kennedy, the legacy and profile in courage award to nancy pelosi just announced. >> so deserving. >> wanted to ask you about joe biden. facing a problem self-imposing, friday not the complete success he wanted it to be by joking about the perception he has, you know, not been as, as sensitive to people's feelings, and that the kind of campaigning that he's always done for decades and decades is no longer really possible or viable with a lot of people. young and old. and here we've got a lot of democrats going after him as well. >> look, i think -- he got it right when the he said this is a new day. that it is time for men to start listening to women. and that he gets that and he's committed to doing that, and i think he wasn't so much joking about the issue. he was joking about himself. i think he takes the issue very seriously. made a compliment.

the good news, if he decides to run the american people get to see that he is serious about that, and obviously the time i worked with him, all eight years in the white house, he showed me nothing but the utmost of respect. he was a big advocate for women writing the violence against women act. helping us lead our effort to end sexual assault on college campuses. what's important, he recognized it doesn't matter what my experience was. you have to listen to the perception of everybody. listen to those important voices and for too long women's voices have not been listened to. >> now, my reporting has been he was planning to announce, certainly signaled that again on friday, made several comments that made it very clear he is announcing before the end of the month, always planned to be the last in for whatever reason, but under the legal constraints of not talking about it publicly, because that triggers a two-week period under the fec rules. that said, there have been columns. the "new york times" and others in the "new york times."

peggy noonan, "wall street journal," don't run. we like you so much. done so much. you're going to be destroyed by this field of candidates in the primaries and your legacy destroyed? >> what's great about america, andrea, everybody has the opportunity to follow their heart and run if they want to run. it's a very personal decision. i don't think you can tell anybody else what to do. certainly there are a lot of people who told barack obama not to run. he's never be able to win and did it twice. so if he wants to make his case to the american people, i think we should welcome that. >> i wanted to talk about finding my voice. because your journey has been extraordinary. your background. you know, what -- you learned from your parents. also to face racism, to be confronted by that, given your level of achievement, just tells you so much. you wrote in the book that you turn returned home to chicago to visit your mother a target of a tweet that used a racist trope

comparing me to an ape accusing me of being a member of the muslim brotherhood. my mother voiced how annoyed. no matter how accomplished, still ridiculed. >> at the time i said i'm fin but i'm worried about people out there in this period of time are subject to discrimination and racism. we are better as a country when we don't talk at each other and don't use names to describe each other but have an honest conversation about a policy. see if we can find common ground fn there's answers argument and when we do that, we are appealing to the better part of ourselves and that's actually what's best for the country. >> struck by stacey abrams the other day. speaking, i guess on "morning joe" speaking about, you know, i

know that people look at me and whan they see is a woman with natural hair, a woman with what she described as a sturdy build. the first thing they take away, but also have to take away that i am a true intellect. that i am smart. >> force of nature. amazing but she's right. i think good for her for describing it and saying, i acknowledge how people might see me at first. what i hope is they get to know me and get to appreciate that behind this exterior is a woman of substance, of intellect, as you said, an advocate. someone who has fiercely devoted to our country and i wish we would all stop being so superficial. one of my issues about social media. you can hide and say dreadful things, things you wouldn't say if sitting across the table from them. we need more honest, uncomfortable conversation even but straight conversation. >> the book is "finding my voice." you'll speak about all of this on book tour as well.

lots of luck out there thank you. appreciate you, andrea. >> great to see you. >> nice to see you, too. coming up, no, they're never going to get it. the message from acting chief of staff mick mulvaney about the demand for the president's tax returns. stay with us. we'll be right back. stay with us we'll be right back. with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands?

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you believe democrats will never see the president's tax returns? >> oh, no. never. nor should they. keep in mind, that'sen issue litigated during the election. voters knew the president could have given his tax returns. knew he didn't and elected him anyway. what drives the democrats crazy. >> litigated but not really litigated. joining me now, former u.s. attorney joyce vance, msnbc news contributor and heidi pristhe la. >> the statute is specific. it says a request by a-- at

request by the chairman the tax folks shall produce those returns, and they can review it only in a closed executive session in order to protect the taxpayer. there's not really much dispute here. the only dispute is because this administration is willing to ignore the law and to continue to set the president above it. >> heidi, you know the ways and means chairman. carefully waited. resisted all pressure and basically framed this request to the irs commissioner. not really to steve mnuchin who oversees the irs and certainly not the president? >> under huge pressure. i can't tell you how the democrats were banging on him, what's taking so long? yes to your point. he made a tailored, narrow, could have asked for ten years of returns, gone after all 500 of trump's llcs said we want six years and a few select lcs we

think will really unlock some of the secrets here we need to have answered. politically, they feel they're in a strong position and legally that they're in a strong position, but the thing is, this is almost certain to end up in the courts. i talked to the staff before i came until who said we'll probably issue another letter and we'll give them another warning but eventually it will end up in court. the question is just how long? that's why it was made so tailored. he wanted to make it, like joy says. the statute is clear. he wanted to minimize the amount of time it's in court, because this is a road map. not just for him but a number of other committees that want to investigate emoluments, for example, or maxine waters on financial services. >> indeed. joyce, now we've got the state, new york state folks, saying he want his state taxes, which could be a road map to what's going on in the trump organization?

>> that's true and the state folks might have a considerably easier time accesses taxes. the other important thing to note, andrea, is that getting taxes from the irs or the commissioner in new york isn't the only route, and buried in the federal criminal -- rather, in buried in the federal law regarding turnover of taxes to committees on the hill is a provision that permits a whistleblower, a person who has access to taxes, maybe they were a preparer, maybe they held them in some other guard. they can take them to the heads of the ways and means committee. i tend to agree with heidi, that's not the only path forward on capitol. >> very briefly, joyce. we know that mueller had the taxes. he's had those turns. could those be incorporated as part of the mueller report and now it's up to william barr as to whether that's redacted or not redacted. >> one suspects that mueller had

those taxes. you may know more than i do in that regard. inside of doj, taxpayer information is protected. i would not look to see any of that becoming public in the context of the mueller report. >> thanks so much, joyce, very much appreciate it and heidi here. president trump telling conservative republican american jews that benjamin netanyahu is their prime minister. really? you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. yes.

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a special thanks to representative omar of minnesota. oh. oh. i forgot. she doesn't like israel. i forgot. i'm so sorry. >> the president speaking to conservative jewish republicans in las vegas saturday night taking aim at ill yan omar. just hours after one of the president's supporters was arrested and charged with threatening to kill her. he also, the president, went out of his way for his ally benjamin netanyahu, facing a tough election tomorrow in israel, calling netanyahu your prime minister to the american jewish audience. a lot of disturbing messaging

here. joining me now, peter baker, and a former "new york times" man in israel and white house reporter from bloomberg news. this embrace of netanyahu is so all out, and netanyahu saying this weekend if reelected, he will actually try to annex part of the west bank, the jewish settlements in the west bank, and what president trump is saying about your prime minister, this seems to be an emerging trump strategy to try to divide the american jewish community and pick up more votes based on the charge of democratic anti-semitism. >> there's no question in the run up to tomorrow's election in israel that president trump has made clear whose side he's on. he's been very close with prime minister netanyahu. he hosted him here in washington just the other day. he recognized israeli sovereignty over the golan

heights that no american president has done. he moved the american embassy to jerusalem and the big posters in israel today show prime minister netanyahu with donald trump. that's who he wants to be associated with. he thinks that the president is a selling point. and he may be right. the last poll published before the law disallowed any further polling showed that his coalition might be tied with the opposition, but with his right wing coalition allies, he will probably have a majority if the poll is correct of the parliament and another chance to put together a government for one more term. president trump would obviously welcome that. he made clear on saturday whose side he's on and one more thing today, he did was designate the iranian revolutionary guard

corps as a terrorist organization. >> and in fact the iranian revolutionary guard is part of the iranian government. they support terrorism, but they're part of running the economy there. that's something that's been telegraphed, if you will, by the state department. >> another way for the president to put his finger on the scale. it couldn't be more obvious. but i would say out the messaging here from the president is not only to jewish voters and jewish donors who were at the meeting this weekend, but it's to christian conservatives and evangelicals. when i talk to people in the political universe and i ask them what is this all about, is he going to try to get jewish voters in ohio to come out to the poll, he said it's purely about the evangelical message. they are very enthusiastic about -- enthusiastic as jewish voters are about moving the embassy to jerusalem or the golan heights or any support the

president has given to israel. >> this ignores a large number of american jews who are not that supportive of netanyahu, who believe that the peace process is the future of israel and that the peace process is getting killed by this embrace of annexation. >> i think that you're right. the majority of jewish american voters voted against donald trump in 2016, voted against republicans in last year's midterm elections. what president trump and his team are trying to do is peel off more of them by saying if you somebody who's unvarnished supporter of israel, come to us, representative omar represents a dark side of the democratic party that plays to anti-semitism. but it is an important moment in the politics of israel in the united states as we watch what happens tomorrow in their

election. >> thanks so much. and that does it for us here as ali velshi for "velshi & ruhle." >> and that election in israel, benjamin netanyahu on posters with donald trump. so -- >> exactly. >> good discussion. have a good afternoon, andrea. >> hello, everybody. i'm ali velshi. let's get smarter. >> i want to thank the president again for the tremendous opportunity to serve this country. i'm forever grateful and proud for the men and women of dhs who work so hard every day to protect the homeland. i look forward to continuing to support them from the outside. i spent the last 24 hours since yesterday talking with government officials, administration officials, members of congress to ensure a smooth transition. as you know, dhs has a vast array of missions. i want to make sure we continue to execute them all. i share the president's goal of

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