wikileaks founder julian assange arrested. now he's facing possible extradition to the u.s. where he's been charged with conspiring to hack into a military computer. plus fallout after attorney general bill barr says he thinks the trump campaign was spied on. now the justice department is reportedly concerned. and high-profile attorney michael avenatti indicted on 36 federal charges. he's looking at life in prison.

good morning, everybody. it is friday, april 12th. we begin with the latest details on the arrest of julian assange. sporting a long white beard, assange was taken into custody yesterday at the ecuadorian embassy in london. he had been living there for the past seven years. ecuador's president says that assange's diplomatic asylum was withdrawn due to violating international conventions and discourteous and aggressive behavior. the u.s. justice department revealed yesterday assange has been charged with computer hacking we lated to the case of former intelligence officer chelsea manning. assange is accused of helping manning crack a password with gave him access to hundreds of thousands of classified documents. the indictment accuses assange of going beyond the role of a

traditional journalist. he claims the u.s. is trying to infringe on his journalistic freedoms. meanwhile members of congress from both sides of the aisle are calling for assange's immediate extradition. president trump addressed the situation yesterday saying he knows quote nothing about wikileaks. but he said something very different back in 2016. watch this. >> all you have to do is take a look at wikileaks. >> wikileaks. some brutal stuff. >> this came out. wikileaks. i love wikileaks. >> the hillary clinton documents released today by wikileaks. >> we don't talk about wikileaks. >> they want to distract us from wikileaks. >> wikileaks. wikileaks. they got to start talking about wikileaks. you know wikileaks just came out. the wonder of wikileaks. oh, we love wikileaks. boy, they have -- wikileaks.

they have revealed a lot. wikileaks. wikileaks. the wikileaks revelations. wikileaks is fascinating. did you see another one? another one came in today. this wikileaks is like a treasure trove. it came out on wikileaks. wikileaks. it all came down. >> do you still love wikileaks? >> i know nothing about wikileaks. it's not my thing and i know there's something having to do with julian assange. i've been seeing what's happened with assange. and that will be a determination, i would imagine mostly by the attorney general who is doing an excellent job. he'll be making a determination. i know nothing about him. it's not my deal in my life. >> not my deal in life. joining me is dave lawler. i'm surprised the president didn't go so far to say i didn't

know what wikileaks is. this reminds me about the times he's been ask about vladimir putin and the story has changed. said he knew him very well, didn't know him at all. never met him. now the same thing with wikileaks. he talked aggressively on the campaign trail, going so far as to, you know, talk about the hacking of wikileaks and what's been revealed, that wikileaks has done. what do you make now of the president saying it's not his thing? >> it's not my thing. yeah. i like that. look, i mean he has no incentive now to attach himself to somebody who his own government is trying to extradite for criminal behavior. this is a pattern with president trump. he tends to embrace people, things, institutions, when they are in the news, when it's buzzy and then when the thing switches

he backs away. in terms of the assange connect it's interesting. we've been wondering for a long time the nexus between wikileaks and trump world. you know, where are those connections, if they exist. there might be some notes on that in the mueller report when we see it. yet, at the same time it's trump's justice department that's coming out and attempting to extradite julian assange. it's weird as with a lot of things in the trump saga related to the 2016 campaign there's a lot of tentacles that don't line up. >> you do bring up the mueller probe and investigation there. what type of fallout could this have on any potential investigation into trump's 2016 campaign, considering the fact that we know very well now with regards to roger stone especially who has been a long time friend and adviser and worked on trump campaign for some time, he had contact with

julian assange and with wikileaks as well in the lead up to the 2016 election. we know that connection was made inside the mueller probe. what kind of fallout do you think there could be now >> right. we've gotten bits and pieces of this. even donald trump jr. there were private messages exchanged between him and wikileaks social media account. we don't have the full picture there. we might get the full picture. it depends what we see in the mueller report. i think it's an interesting phenomenon at the same time you have julian assange railing against the u.s., the justice system saying the uk has to resist that, you also had a time when this president was embracing wikileaks not that long ago. like i said, it's a bizarre situation where there's two trains running and they seem to be running in opposite directions. >> it's important to note that once again this arrest had nothing to do with the 2016 campaign, had nothing to do with ed snowden way back when. what this had to do was chelsea

manning and help chelsea manning hack into a government computer. what ensues after that, takes place after that can be quite a snowball effect. we have to wait and see. dave lawler thank you. top republican on the house intel committee devon nunez is accusing robert mueller of spying on president trump citing wednesday's testimony from attorney general bill barr. >> now we have an attorney general who calls spying for what it is. in late 2015, early 2016 spying began on the trump campaign. that information leaked to what they considered to be legal spying. then you have the culmination of the ultimate spying where you have the fbi director spying on the president, taking notes, illegally leaking those notes or classified information.

why? so they can appoint a special counsel to spy on an acting president again. >> the justice department is reportedly concerned about partisan allies of the president using barr's phrasing to suggest that something illegal occurred. a person familiar with the attorney general's thinking said to "the washington post" that barr of not trying from provide conservatives with rhetorical red meat and using the word "spying" in the technical sense of collecting intelligence, something barr attempted to clarify himself. >> spying on a political campaign is a big deal. i think spying did occur. i think spying did occur. >> you indicated that there's the possibility that unauthorized surveillance or spying occurred. >> did you say that i said it occurred? could i add one point of clarification. >> please. >> i just want to make it clear looking back on the different

colloquies here i'm not saying that improper surveillance occurred, i'm saying that i'm concerned about it and looking into it. that's all. >> so barr also said, though, he had no evidence to support any of these claims. so one of the people who congressman nunez is accusing of spying, former fbi director james comey, weighing in on the attorney general's choice of words. >> i really don't know what he's talking about when he talks about spying on the campaign. the fbi, the department of justice conduct court ordered electronic surveillance. i have never thought of that as spying. i don't know of any electronic surveillance aimed court order electronic surveillance aimed at the trump campaign. >> so there was that. and rod rosenstein declined to comment yesterday about attorney general barr's use of the word spying but welcomed a review.

rod rosenstein said barr is being as forthcoming as he can and defended the attorney general's four page summary. quote, it would be one thing if you put out a letter and said i'm not going give you a report. rod rosenstein said what he said look it will take a while to process the report. in the meantime people want to know what's in it. i'll give the top line conclusions and that's all he was trying to do. president trump posted a tweet yesterday morning celebrating a 55% approval rating in a new poll. pretty good, right? the only problem is it's completely wrong. the president posted the screen graph from fox business showing his soaring approval at 55%. but the real approval rating from that poll is nuft 43. fox business news issued this on air correction while the president's misleading tweet still remains on his twitter page. >> that tweet featured a poll that have not entirely accurate

which fox business would like to correct. according to a poll from georgetown university 58% respondents approved of the president's handling of the economy. that portion of the graphic was right. however the graphic also showed 55% of the respondents approved of the president. that number is not correct. 55% was those who have an unfavorable impression of president trump. >> okay. still ahead there's been a sweeping expansion of the criminal charges against michael avenatti. we'll bring in our legal analyst danny cevallos on set for that conversation. plus steve bannon appears to be going after the only office holder in the world to have as much power as the president of the united states. the pope. we'll explain that story and have a check on your weekend forecast when we come back. e bak

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beard carried out of the ecuadorian embassy by london's metropolitan police. >> oh, man. that is one of the most embarrassing ways you can get arrested because look at this. that's his head. and then those are his feet. they carried him out of the embassy like he was an old couch. watch the corners. >> okay. joining me now live from london nbc chief correspondent richard engel. good morning to you. i guess good afternoon to you in london. thanks so much for joining us so early. talk to us about this julian assange case. obviously, there has been a lot of rolling around, a lot of conversation around it in the last 24 hours or so since his arrest, since he was in the ecuadorian embassy for seven years or so. what can we expect regarding julian assange in the coming days. >> what a journey he's had already. he arrived in this country, many greeted him initially as a hero, as a whistle blower, as someone

who was being persecuted for having published embarrassing material about the u.s. government government, about the u.s. state department and ecuadorians granted him asylum, let him inside the embassy there where he was protected because police couldn't enter that sovereign property. seven years later ecuadorians grew tired of him. he continued to publish inside. he continued to use his communications, which was a violation. according to the ecuadorians, he was rude, he wasn't keeping up with his personal hygiene, not cleaning up after i had cat. well they said guests and fish stink after three days. this was seven years. so police now went in, they took him out. they said they arrested him on behalf of the united states. he's facing possible extradition to the united states and his lawyers want to fight it. they say he should be protected under the protections of free

speech. >> we know this is just the beginning of this, obviously, and we'll be hearing i'm sure a lot more from not only takes place but from julian assange himself. i want to turn now, richard, to some new reporting you have regarding steve bannon's latest crusade involving the pope, which does surprise a lot of people. talk to us about what you know. >> so, we've been looking into this story quite a bit and we're going to have a long segment on it this sunday at 9:00 p.m. on msnbc. just a little plug there. and it's a very, it's a very interesting story. it's a fascinating story, in fact. we all know steve bannon as the ultimate political consultant who helped the trump campaign, helped bring trump to the white house. now, however, he's set his sights on another very powerful office and that's the papacy,

the leader of the catholic church. he thinks the catholic church and the pope specifically need to reform. and a lot of the same characters, a lot of the same strategy that brought president trump to the white house are now being directed against the pope. here's a little bit of our program. >> why you, why is steve bannon now taking on the vatican. >> because nobody else has stepped up to do it. >> his goal is to save the catholic church from the pope. who he says is failing to deal with the biggest crisis facing the church today. >> my problem with the pope today is about this crisis on pedophilia, that they are not treating this as a crisis. >> they weaponize the sexual abuse crisis to try to undermine his authority, his leadership, and the affection people have

for him as pope. >> bannon said he's spending about a million dollars of his own money to lease and restore this 100-year-old monastery. >> he plans to live in this monastery. he wanted to change america first, now the pope and beyond. >> how big is this campaign? >> it's pretty good big. it has a lot of money. it's worldwide now. it's kind of shocking. they don't like lgbtq people, they don't like people of color, they don't like the poor very much. they really don't like pope francis. >> steve bannon is nothing but ambitious. did you see that enormous hill top monastery. about a two hour drive outside of rome. bannon has leased it along with a group for the next 19 years and plans to turn it into a school to teach quote j.

judeo-christian values. i was inspired while looking at this roughly 300 room monastery on a hill stop in the italian country side. >> looks like an incredibly fascinating piece. i can't wait to watch it. richard engel, thank you very much. catch richard's full interview with bannon on sunday at 9:00 p.m. on assignment with richard engel on msnbc. let's turn now and get a check on your weather with our meteorologist. >> good morning. can you believe there's over 25 inches of fresh new snow in south dakota here and this storm system continues to make its way across the upper midwest. what you're seeing across the radar right now a little bit of bright banding that's happening. you see snow trying to fall but

not making it down to ground level. we still have those winter weather advisories. blizzard warnings in place throughout the afternoon for the upper midwest. snow accumulation really isn't impressive but you're seeing that low spin out and that will cause very gusty weather for the afternoon. this entire system will make its way offshore causing the wind to spread into the midwest, the northeast. still local gusts from chicago to portions of new york up to 35 to 40 miles per hour. so expect some minor delays throughout your afternoon. now the other side of this system, we're tracking severe weather. just feels like we can get a break from winter. now to severe weather for this weekend. >> i feel like it's coming, though. i do feel it's coming. still ahead, everybody, a former white house counsel under president obama gets charged with lying to prosecutors. we're going explain how it's tied to the mueller probe next.

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. welcome back. controversial heart beat bill prohibiting abortions after a fetal heart beat is detected is now ohio law making good on a campaign promise, the governor joins governors in arkansas and north dakota, iowa, kentucky and mississippi who have signed similar heart beat bills which effectively ban abortions after six weeks. before, by the way, before many women know they are pregnant.

ohio's law is set to take effect in july. it allows abortion physician the woman's life is in danger but there's no exception for rape or incest. governor kasich vetoed the bill twice. ohio is now set up for a legal battle that could end up in the supreme court. the aclu of ohio has promised it would sue. former white house counsel under president obama has been indicted on federal charges stemming from the mueller probe. 74-year-old gregory craig is charged with lying and hiding information from justice department investigators related to lobbying work that he did in the ukraine. after leaving the obama administration, craig's law firm worked with former trump campaign manager paul manafort on an independent. report of ukraine's justice ministry in 2012. in a video released shortly after he was indicted craig claimed he did not need to register as a foreign agent for

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welcome back, everybody.

i'm yasmin vossoughian. it's the bottom of the hour. let start with the morning's top stories. in an interview with the associated press house speak nancy pelosi says she's planning to meet with president trump to discuss infrastructure. pelosi told reporters yesterday she's looking for at least $1 trillion for an infrastructure package, far more than the $200 billion trump proposed and she would like to get it close to 2 trillion if possible. >> again, i'm optimistic. i think that we can work together. left to his own devices i think sometimes the president would be agreeable to these things. >> she said she's optimistic. but president trump tweeted about tissue last night. house democrats want to negotiate $2 trillion spending increase but can't even pass their own plan. we can't afford it anyway and it's not happening. senate has confirmed former oil and agricultural industry

lobbyist david bernhardt as the new secretary of the interior. democratic senators joe manchin along with angus king voted in support. democrats called for formal investigations into his past conduct. and concerns over whether a information oil lobbyist should actually oversee public lands. during his confirmation hearings last month two activists as you see there dressed up like swamp creatures and they sat behind bernhardt silently protesting his nomination. >> one of president trump's expected picks for the federal reserve board is facing growing republican opposition casting doubts over his ability to actually be confirmed. four gop senators have suggested they would vote against herman cain if they were actually nominated citing his lack of experience or sexual harassment

allegations against him which he denies. that list includes senator cramer, lisa murkowski, mitt romney and dory gardner. joe manchin of west virginia said he was unlikely to support cain. that would leave him shy of the 50 votes needed. and senate majority mitch mcconnell weighed in saying there was a lack of enthusiasm among a number of republicans about that particular nominee. a former 2016 presidential candidate jeb bush teased former joe biden for his potential run for president at a forum at the university of pennsylvania yesterday. >> ill-fated run for president which i recommend people do that if they are thinking about it. . [ laughter ]

i was talking about the mayor. >> that's all right. a little random advice. >> my first trip to manchester. >> speaking of addiction. >> so biden is expected, of course, to jump into the crowded democratic primary field sometime in the next coming weeks. two new polls shows south bend, indiana mayor pete buttigieg in third place. a monmouth university poll shows pete buttigieg trailing behind information vice president joe biden, vermont senator bernie sanders with 9% of support. the mayor again in third place with 11% of voters in new hampshire. pete buttigieg received the endorsemen of steve grossman who served as dnc chair and massachusetts state treasurer.

the "boston globe" reports grossman offered to fundraiser for pete buttigieg and expected to attend what the candidates official campaign launch in indiana on sunday. democratic national committee will begin targeting voters in hundreds of small and medium size towns across the country with digital ads, press conferences and billboards featuring friends and neighbors who say they feel betrayed by the current president. the push is the main feature of dnc's war room which is focused on targeting on voters in battleground states that hillary clinton lost in 2016. the effort is a response to critici criticism that democrats were too focused on trump's temperament. the dnc has dispatched a team of several dozen staff stories compile thousands of documents obtained through local news and freedom of information act requests to spotlight promys

trump has made to specific communities and to quote put a human face on what has happened since. joining me once again from washington, world news editor for axios, dave lawler. dave, do you think it's the democrats plan to target president trump's failed promises? is that enough to win back the battleground states that the party lost in 2016? >> who knows? it's got to be part of a much broader structure. the idea here is when president trump went to your commune he said he would give you lower prescription drug palace. he would save plants but the plant in your town closed down. you have president trump using the slogan promises made promises kept. he didn't keep all of these promises. the ones that he made the most

he didn't keep. >> nancy pelosi optimistic about wanting to get a couple of trillion dollars for this infrastructure plan as we saw and read the president said you're not going to get it. can't hope to think that the president is still angry he didn't get the border wall money that he needed instead declared a national emergency for the border wall. but all that being said, the president has talked a lot about infrastructure in this country. he had infrastructure week as we all know wanting to infuse infrastructure money in this country. so the president is not on board with a big price tag like the house speaker is bringing to him in regards to infrastructure considering he's been supporting it for so long. do you think that this is something they could feasible come to an agreement on or do you think washington is so broken, so many people in the president's ear don't give the house speaker, no matter what she wants.

>> infrastructure is one of those issues if you look at it, the votes might be there. there's a bipartisan consensus on this issue. one of the few issues in washington now where that exists. i think it's an issue of political will. how many infrastructure weeks have we had without moving an inch forward on infrastructure. on the white house side. from the democratic side they are so focused on blocking trump and trying to get rid of him in a couple of years. the idea they would come together on a big landmark proposal for anything seems far fetched. i'm not optimistic. i said on this program before i would never bet on bipartisanship in this current climate and that's how i feel about that. >> bipartisanship is a good thing. that's how things get done in this country. when we're at a point with legislation that we're not betting on bipartisanship it means we're not necessarily in a good place. but anyway, dave lawler, thank you. still ahead legal troubles for michael avenatti escalate

after a federal grand jury indicts him on 36 new counts. and we'll have an update on your forecast. 'll have an updat your forecast. ♪

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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. . a federal grand jury in california indicted lawyer michael avenatti on 36 new charges yesterday. including alleged fraud, perjury, tax dodging, embezzling millions of dollars to fund a luxurious lifestyle while he faced bankruptcy. michael avenatti hid and pocketed the majority of a $4 million settlement from one of his clients who was mentally ill and a paraplegic. he used funds from a client to purchase this private jet. the severity of the charges

stacked against michael avenatti come with a possible max sentence of 335 years in prison. michael avenatti faces separate charges in new york for allegedly attempting ing ting $20 million from nike. his tweet i'm confident justice will to be done when facts are known. danny cevallos, msnbc legal analyst. you're good. you're on with us today. i don't want tomorrow to be doing a story about danny cevallos. >> i don't have any plans to be indicted. i know every pound, every deutsche mark that knows in my client's account. because from the first day we get into law school they beat it into our heads don't monkey around with your clients' money. you can have a drinking problem, get arrested in a bar fight.

we'll work with you. but if you take from your client and mess with that trust account you will be disbarred. i know disbarment is less important than criminal charges here but that is just -- every lawyer who has read about these allegations has just cringed or their head is exploding. >> it's incredible to read these allegations. i want to go quickly through them. alleged fraud, perjury, tax dodge, embezzling millions of dollars from clients. then on top of that nike. what's the worst of all this? what could actually really give him time in prison and how much time could he see in prison up to 335 years in prison. the max sentence. >> we always talk about those statutory maxs. when you arrive at that number you take the maximum penalty and line them up end to end. >> that could be life. >> it could be a millennial.

it's never that. the sentencing guidelines will be a lot lower. most charges end up being sentences concurrently not consecutively. the new york case that you talked about came out before this california case. the new york case, i think, for michael avenatti is actually defensible because there is a fine line between making a demand as a plaintiff's attorney on a corporation and saying if you do not settle we'll file a public lawsuit. and what michael avenatti is alleged to have done which is to say i'll ruin you financially and hold a press conference. there obviously is a major difference, but it is something that lawyers do every day. i would argue that michael avenatti, had he doesn't a few things differently in this new york case he would have been immune from any criminal liability. >> like what >> like print out a draft copy of the complaint too nike. give to it nike. tomorrow if we don't settle this case for my client, understand we may file this in court and it will be publicly available and

we'll try to vindicate my client's reits. if his client had a legitimate claim. michael avenatti is alleged to have gone to any key i'm going to have a press conference and say bad things about you. but that case in new york is possibly defensible. these allegations in california are mind blowing. i want wasn't even a case of taking from a client's trust account to buy staples for firm, it had things nothing to do with the law firm. jets and things like this. this is michael avenatti's priority. his chief concern. >> that's my jet. you guys have the wrong jet. >> thank you. let's get a check on your weather now. >> good morning. we're going to continue to see the storm system, this historical blizzard that caused over 25 inches across portions of the dakotas. also gusty winds. this will soon be a distant

memory across new york city into washington, mid-atlantic. you're seeing clear skies. comfortable temperatures. but that same system is headed our way. now let's transition as it makes its way offshore. now we're following our next storm system and this is going to be pretty severe throughout the weekend. make sure you stay tuned with us on social media. also your local stations. if you're across the deep south. this is northern louisiana, southern arkansas, 23 million under stormy conditions with some isolated tornadoes possible. we're seeing that dip in the jet stream here and things are going to get pretty toasty with daytime highs. up 70s to lower 80s. so very difficult weather throughout the weekend. >> we have some very good news. we started out announcing the bitter of ayman mohyeldin. he had a baby boy. good news continues to roll in for morning jean first look team

as well. congratulations to our booking producer who got engaged during their trip -- oh, my god during their trip to japan. mike proposed in the middle of a bamboo forest in the city of kyoto. the answer was yes. we wish them the very best. that's fantastic news there. still ahead, disney ceo lays out a timeline for his nearly 15 year run. jeff bezos throws down the gauntlet over employee pay. the challenge he's issued. and the stories affecting your business day coming up. coming p to help you maintain balance and help keep you active and well-rested. because hey, tomorrow's coming up fast. nature's bounty. because you're better off healthy.

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you welcome back. jeff bezos stepped up the pressure against top retailers. what more you tell us, carolyn? >> jeff bezos didn't name the company specifically but we know he's talking about walmart and target. in the letter he wrote match our benefits and our $15 minimum wage. throw down the gauntlet and

thr go to $16 and throw it back on us. in it they wrote "how about paying your taxes." uber may never make a profit. that's according to its ipo filing. the documents reveal the ride sharing company has 91 million active monthly users, almost five times that of its rival lyft. >> after extending husband contract twice, disney's ceo bob iger will step down.

>> the company has a strategy. the head of parks added consumer products to his oversight. whoever is tipped as ceo has big shoes to fill. >> coming up, everybody, michaelmichael allen has a look at "1 big thing." and the damage control the d.o.j. is trying to do. hakeem jeffries has some thoughts on that. "morning joe" just moments away. '' retirement. oh, don't worry. voya helps them to and through retirement... ...dealing with today's expenses... ...like college... ...while helping plan, invest and protect for the future. so they'll be okay... without me?

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welcome back, everybody. joining us from washington with a look at axios a.m., the co

founder, mike allen. >> happy friday. congratulations to the "morning joe" family, it was fun to see all that good news. >> lots of good news for the family. it's been a good week. >> tech is making the rich richer and the big bigger. people hoped that tech would allow entrepreneurs, people in the garage, to take on giant temperatures, that was how apple started, uber started. technology is helping the biggest players get bigger. income equality is likely to increase and that's part of what's fueling instability in our politics, that there's great pockets of wealth but it doesn't necessarily promote broad prosperity. >> i know that you're breaking

down the trends you have seen amidst this tech explosion shall we say. what are some of those trends? >> this is a piece by jim vandehei and our experts on both coasts. one of the trends is that data begets data. the great fortunes of the future in part are going to be built on how you're able to collect, package up and remarket data. for example, the information of anything from our phones, anything from our cars, like that's going to make it possible to power the prediction engines that are going to be big in the future. another one is that size begets size. you get more hefty, the biggest players in the market now are able to gobble up the best robotics technology, the best a.i. technology, the technology

for our last screen as "the wall street journal" called it this week and that's our dashboard to make our vehicles the best they are. >> we talked about this during the show, herman cain is not getting much shore in washington. what are you hearing? >> it's looking like 9, 9, 9 is bye, bye, bye. looks like republican senators said they would sink him. even before the president nominated hmm, looks like it's not happening. yesterday senator mitch mcconnell, here's something else he said yesterday when he had a pen and pad with reporters in his office. he had a little advice for the white house about what to do with nominees. he said the white house should talk into account both their background check and also their likelihood of getting confirmed.

that was a real shot at the west wing saying they should do more due diligence on these. he said a lot of senators had comments about names they'd seen in the newspapers, that was the majority leader's way to turning to herman cain and he floated this is what it's like to be a republican leader in the trump errai era, mcconnell said surprised on a daily basis. >> do you have think the white house will heed his advice here? >> we do. the president had been enamored of herman cain for months. in the "post," he was having a meeting in the situation room with generals and other military officials about the mexican border and heard herman cain was in the white house, he said

"send him down." herman cain comes into the situation room and the president says to the military leaders, you need a 9,99 plan for the bored are a border and we heard the joke fell flat. >> you, too, can read the newsletter. that does it for me on this friday morning. "morning joe" starts right now, everybody. i don't know anything about david duke. i don't know what you're talking about with the white supremacy or white supremacist. i know nothing about these people. i know nothing about wikileaks, it's not my thing. >> he knows nothing about david duke, who praises him online, he knows nothing about far right em