tuesday night. thank you so much for being here with us. good night from nbc news headquarters in new york. goodnight from nbc news headquarters in new york. ♪ after a much watched town hall president trump is tearing into bernie sanders and fox news. why he's taking aim at his favorite station. riplus, with the smoke clearing we're getting a better look at the devastation left in the wake of the notre dame fire. this as french president emanuel macron vows to rebuild the cathedral in five years. we will have aed live update fr paris. and awaiting the mueller report, president trump's attorney rudy giuliani says the president's legal team is working on aen rebuttal that wi be published soon after the special counsel's report becomes public. ♪

good morning, everybody, it is wednesday, april 17th, i'm yasmin vossoughian. we start with monday's fox news town hall with democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders. it's gotten under the skin of the president who tweeted around 9:00 p.m. washington time, quote, many trump fans and signs were outside of the fox news studio last night in the now thriving, thank you, president trump, bethlehem, pennsylvania, for the interviews with crazy bernie sanders. big complaints about not being let otin. stuffed with bernie supporters. what's with fox news? 11 hours earlier trump tweeted this, so weird to watch crazy bernie on fox news. not surprisingly bret baier and the audience were so smiley and nice, very strange, now we have donna brasil. that a reference to donna brasil. trump has repeated ripped her for tipping hillary off about a questiont before her debate wi

sanders. bret baier reacted to the morning's tweet saying this, thanks fort watching, mr. president. we would lovech to have you on town halle soon or even an interview on "special report." it's been a while. wen cover all sides. and the democratic national committee pair tom perez said monday that the party is not reconsidering its decision not to holdid a debate on fox news, but senator bernie sanders is a monday evening special on the network was the most watched town hall event of the 2020 campaign so far according to early nielsen data. at least three other democratic candidates are reportedly open to a fox town hall including south bend mayor pete buttigieg, his campaign strategist liz smith tweeting yesterday, stay tuned. elsewhere on the 2020 campaign trail last night senator elizabeth warren drew a crowd of about 1,500 people to an airplane t hangar in aurora, colorado, where we discussed her public lands proposal. that blueprint includes

reinstating environmental protections rolled back by the trumpon administration and expanding public access through a 10,000-member civilian conservation comps akin to one under fdr. meanwhile, beto o'rourke became the first declared democratic candidate to campaign in virginia, making five stops across the commonwealth finishing at acuva in charlottesville last night. and the justice department is expected to release a redacted version of bob mueller's final report tomorrow and president trump's lawyer rudy giuliani says the president's legal team is putting the finishing touches on a rebuttal. in an interview with the associated press giuliani said their document will be dozens of pages d long. giuliani says it will be published in the hours after the release ofd mueller's report o russianll interference into the 2016 presidential election. now, giuliani even went as far as to text a reporter from "politico" at 2:54 a.m. on tuesday about.m the size of the

president's counterreport, saying it was at least 34 or 35 pages long, adding, quote, the more concise the better. 400 pages is a novel. nbc news has also learned that house intelligence committee chair adam schiff and ranking member devin nunes sent a joint letter last month asking for a briefing from special counsel bob mueller. according to the letter which was obtained by nbc news they also asked for access to all materials obtained or produced by the special counsel's office. and once the mueller report becomes public the document will be med i will available to the public and free to read, but that's not stopping a rush to capitalize on it. this, the daily beast is pointing out that the "washington post" is selling the text ofto mueller's report with analysis from threere reporterst the end of the month. audible an audio book company is currently taking preorders for an audio version of the 300-plus page report.

and forpa more than a month attorney and frequent fox news guest alan dershowitz and the publishing housed sky horse ha been selling a book with the full text of the report. the book has been advertised on amazon with the publisher pushing back the anticipated release date as the weeks pass by. amazon currently listed as the number one best selling in the federal jurisdictional law category. joining me from washington senior writer from roll call neil zalewkski. they are selling books about the mueller report butng we don't en have the w mueller report repor. we are expecting to see much of it t redacted on thursday morni. what do you expect to see in the rebuttal fromse trump's lawyerso the mueller report? >> well, so the real question is going to be how much of trump's lawyers seem to know what is actually in the reportow ahead time. thead sooner that mayor giulians

rebuttal comes out and the moore closely ithe aligns with muelles report itself, you know, the more direct it's a rebuttal is probably going to be the kind o thing that is going to raise the questions of how privy to the actual contents of the report that the trump lawyers may have been and if attorney general barr or someone else may have briefed them on it ahead of time. >> right. so we don't necessarily know if the white house has seen the mueller report report or if, as you rtsaid, the torn general ha talked to them about it, so that is a really good point to be made. let's talk about these tweets from the president that are targeting bernie sanders. are these starting to show that the president is seeing sanders as a legitimate 2020 competitor? >> it could be that it's a legitimate threat or that he's seeing sanders as a legitimate threat, but the other part of it is that sanders sort of going on

to fox news when -- which is, of course, the network that the president watchesor most of the time could actually be a blueprint for some of the other 2020 democrats. if they can manage to figure out which host and what circumstances to go on, it may beto a way to go directly to president trump and get him tweeting about them, which i'm sure will help with fundraising. >> but do you feel like the president is threatened by sanders right now? >> i think hesa may be -- he ma be a little bit and certainly that is goingan to increase if looks like the numbers start to show that sanders has a chance of beating trump in some of his midwestern states or if there are places whereta he could actually compete with him in terms of the electoral college. >> all right. neil, thank you so much. i will talk to you againyo in jt a little bit. capitol police and fbi are working closely with twitter to

investigate heightened online death threats made against congresswoman ilhan omar. based on twitter's policy threatening tweets are typically deleted once they have been reported, but in this case the company left them up to help law enforcement follow up on leads. after posting a controversial video attacking the congresswoman over the weekend, president trump did not show any regret for potentially helping insight the threats against her. >> congresswoman omar sent out a release last night saying that your tweet from a couple days ago has led to direct threats on her life. any second thoughts about that tweet and the way it was produced and putwa together? >> no, not at all. look, she's been very disrespectful to this country, she's been very disrespectful, frankly, to israel. she is somebody that doesn't really understand, i think, life, real i life, what it's al about. it's unfortunate. she's got a way about her that's very, very bad, i think, for our country.

i think she's extremely unpatriotic andel extremely disrespectful to ourel country. >> so congresswoman omar has raised more than $830,000 so far this year, that makes her as a tops fundraiser among house democrats according to campaign finance reports. former first lady michelle obama was in london on sunday promoting her autobiography "becoming" when she sat down with stephen colbert. when asked about the current state of america she gave stinging rebuks of president trump without mentioning his name. she compared him tont atr divor dad and the rest of the country as a teenager from a broken family forced to live with him. >> americad is like a teenager- >> we are a teenager. we talked about this. >> and we're confused because our body is changing. >> we are changing all over the place. we come from a broken family, we are a teenager, you know, we are a little unsettled and having

good parents,tl you know, is tough, sometimes you spend weekends with y divorced dad, tt feels like it's fun but then you get sick. that's what america is going through. we're kind of living with divorce dad. >> stillf ahead, we're going t go live to paris for the very latest into the investigation into what may have caused the devastating fire at notre dame. aplus, president trump isss hises second veto since taking ofts, this time it's for a build ending u.s. involvement in yemen. those stories and a check on your weather when we come back. k sometimes, the pressures of today's world can make it tough

to take care of yourself. but nature's bounty has innovative ways 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.

welcome back. as expected, president trump has vetoed a measure ending all u.s. military support for saudi arabia's devastating war in yemen. the bipartisan bill twice passed the senate and the house passed the measure earlier this month after passing a similar resolution in february. in a statement the president

says in part that the resolution is a, quote, unnecessary dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities. it was the first time a resolution to end military action under the war powers act of 1973 reached a president's desk. it does not appear congress has the votes to override the veto. according to one of turkish president erdogan's top aides ankara expects the white house to grant it waivers from u.s. sanctions on purchases of iranian oil and russian air defense systems. if granted, it would mark two major turns for the trump administration which has made taking on tehran a major focus. just two and a half weeks ago the state department suspended delivery of f-35-related materials to turkey due to ankara's purchase of russian s-400 air defense systems. turkey's foreign minister has said they are not canceling that purchase and that president trump recently promised he had

w erdogan he will do his best to resolve the issue. the trump administration says it will allow lawsuits against property seized during the cuban revolution, the move marks a major shift in more than two decades against the islands, it is the latest in a series of steps ramping up cuba which has been an important ally to nicolas maduro. secretary of state mike pompeo is expected to deliver remarks later this morning regarding the situation. let's turn now to paris where we are getting a better sense of the devastation from the catastrophic fire at notre dame cathedral. the mayor of paris shared this image, unbelievably so, on social media showing the, quote, desolate scene of charred timbers strewn about and pews sitting in pools of water used to quell the flames. new video reveals the major

damage to the roof and the inside of the historic structure. french president emanuel macron has committed to rebuilding the cathedral in five years and so far donors have pledged more than 700 million euros for that effort. joining me live from paris nbc news correspondent matt bradley. thank you for joining us on this. yesterday officials said the cathedral structure was not sound. what is the status now of the structure? >> reporter: well, yasmin, that's what everybody here wants to know. we're standing right next to the notre dame cathedral and in the next couple hours we will hear some results from this investigation telling us when people can go back into the cathedral, when some of the culture ministry people will be able to go back and remove some of the relics still left inside. i want to show you some of the structure that reins ma. if you can see this, it's almost entirely intact except for the roof which you can't really see. that spire that used to be

sitting in the center obviously now gone. you can't really see t but the glinting helmets of some of those french firefighters who are on the roof there, they are still running an investigation into whether or not this is a structurally sound building. that's what we're going to be hearing about in the next couple hours. yesterday french authorities said that they needed 48 hours to determine just when people would be able to go back into the building and whether or not it was going to be safe. francis -- excuse me, yasmin. >> matt, talk to us about the artifacts. we have learned a lot about the artifacts that were inside and we have now learned that some of them have been saved from the fire and have been moved to other locations. we're seeing images of them right there. that location being the louvre museum and some artifacts going elsewhere. what are you hearing about what has been saved and what has been lost? >> reporter: well, yasmin, so far we are hearing that almost all of the artifacts have been saved, especially the crown of thorns that believers say jesus

actually wore on the cross. also some of the other items like the tunic of st. louie which is one of the foundational relics, a lot of these cathedrals were founded on relics and that's why people would attend them hundreds of years ago. as you can see most of the actual structure of the building, into he is are the real relics, the real priceless parts of this including the stained glass windows and those beautiful gorgeous rose windows where a lot of people were worried was going to be destroyed or somehow melted in the fire, those remain intact. so a lot of this, the most important parts of the building that date from 800 to 900 years old, those are still intact. >> unbelievable. matt bradley for us. thank you, matt. i want to turn to your weather and get a check on it with meteorologist gentleman necessary is a web. >> if you were getting that run in this morning contending with a few showers across the northeast, this is bouncing off lake erie as well as huron, this

will start to push offshore so shouldn't disrupt your early morning commute. this is the big weather story for the next 48 hours, we have an area of low pressure that's going to develop for the southwest and it's already starting to develop for the upper midwest and these two storm systems really combine here and this is going to spark the severe weather concern here. now, just after this past weekend seeing 40 confirmed tornadoes, the severe weather threat really increases throughout the afternoon. what you need to know, daytime highs they are back in the upper 70s to lower 80s, also the winds are coming out of the south and combining with the gulf moisture here and that's what's going to spark up these potential for tornadoes. 32 million under risk and we're really watching oklahoma city into dallas this afternoon and then this becomes really more widespread for your thursday here. we're seeing 19 million for thursday with these scattered storms and unfortunately it's the deep south once again.

now, we could see torrential rain, the heavy downpours, so flooding will be an issue here for at least the next 24 to 36 hours. look at accumulation totals, we are talking 2 to 3 inches. this does spread into the northeast by friday afternoon. >> thank you. coming up, everybody, highlights from the major matchups in the nba playoffs and an improbable upset on the ice. sports is next. we are back in a moment. sports is next we a breack in a moment. sometimes, the pressures of today's world can make it tough

to take care of yourself. but nature's bounty has innovative ways 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. oh! oh! oh! ♪ ozempic®! ♪ nature's bounty. (announcer) people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. oh! under seven? and you may lose weight. in the same one-year study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. oh! up to 12 pounds? a two-year study showed that ozempic® does not increase the risk of major cardiovascular events like heart attack, stroke, or death. oh! no increased risk? ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪

ozempic® should not be the first medicine for treating diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. do not share needles or pens. don't reuse needles. do not take ozempic® if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to ozempic®. stop taking ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, itching, rash, or trouble breathing. serious side effects may happen, including pancreatitis. tell your doctor if you have diabetic retinopathy or vision changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase the risk for low blood sugar. common side effects are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, and constipation. some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. i discovered the potential with ozempic®. ♪ oh! oh! oh! ozempic®! ♪ ask your healthcare provider today about once-weekly ozempic®.

welcome back. time for sports. the nba playoffs, off to portland where the trail blazers looked to keep the momentum going following their game one win against oklahoma city. damian lillard hits a three and is fouled in the second quarter, tax on four points to their lead. later in the game seth curry hits back to back threes, the blazers dominated for much of the night and go on to win 114-94. they now have a 2-0 series lead against the thunder. in denver the nuggets even up their series against the spurs in game two after cutting a 19-point deficit in the third quarter down to 7 by the start of the fourth. denver gets a boost from jamal murray, leading the nuggets to 114-105 victory. >> and out of the eastern conference in toronto, the first round series between the magic and raptors is tied at one game each after a big night from

kawhi leonard who scored a game high 37 points on the way to a 111-82 win. the tampa bay lightning matched the nhl record for wins in the regular season with 62, but last night in columbus, ohio, they became the first president's winners -- columbus will face the winner of the first round series between boston and toronto. also advancing the islanders after sweeping the pittsburgh penguins in their first round series after a 3-1 win on the road last night. new york will face washington or carolina in the next round. still ahead, everybody, 2020 presidential candidate pete buttigieg gets confronted by two anti-gay protesters at an event in iowa, we will show you how he responded to their interruptions. plus the white house is facing a number of investigations and the president's legal team is resisting several congressional

requests. we will talk about the impending legal fight coming up next. lk ag legal fight coming unep xt experience the style, craftsmanship and technology that have made the rx the leading luxury suv of all time. lease the 2019 rx 350 for $409 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. ♪ ♪ i can do more to lower my a1c. because my body can still make its own insulin. and i take trulicity once a week to activate my body to release it,

like it's supposed to. trulicity is not insulin. it starts acting in my body from the first dose and continues to work when i need it, 24/7. trulicity is an injection to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. don't use it as the first medicine to treat diabetes, or if you have type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. don't take trulicity if you or your family have medullary thyroid cancer, you're allergic to trulicity, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of a serious allergic reaction, a lump or swelling in your neck, or severe stomach pain. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. taking trulicity with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases your low blood sugar risk. common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and decreased appetite. these can lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. i choose once-weekly trulicity to activate my within. if you need help lowering your a1c,

ask your doctor about once-weekly trulicity.

you inspired us to create internet that puts you in charge. that handles anything. that protects what's important. and reaches everywhere. this is beyond wifi. this is xfi. simple, easy, awesome. ♪ welcome back, everybody, i'm yasmin vossoughian. it's the bottom of the hour, let's start with the morning's top stories. the russian oligarch who was considered a key figure in the mueller probe is speaking out on that investigation. oleg deripaska sat down with pbs news hour to discuss the special counsel's focus on him as a result of his ties to president trump's former campaign compare paul manafort. he has a long history with

manafort and is said to be close to russian president vladimir putin, claims that manafort owes him millions from a failed investment venture. in july of 2016 manafort reportedly offered him a private briefing on the presidential race in what may have been an effort to settle that debt. he also allegedly offered him internal campaign polling as well. for his part, deripaska says he was never worried about the mueller investigation. watch this. >> do you feel that the attorney general's summary of the mueller report has exonerated you? >> i never felt guilty. i'm not a subject, first of all, as you know, but in my view it was so bizarre to claims that russia, you know, made any important role in that election. >> if you are such a believer in mueller and the process of

justice, why didn't you when the special counsel sent you written questions, why didn't you answer the request he is? >> it was advice from my lawyers. they just said don't bother. they will settle this thing without you. >> that's an easy way out. then why wouldn't you just say, i have absolutely nothing to hide, i'm happy to talk to you, here are my answers? i don't understand. >> first of all, i have my rights to do so and, second, when i saw the list of questions, you know, some of the questions had nothing to do -- they were very preposterous, my daughter just said don't bother. all right. house speaker nancy pelosi is keeping an eye on the release of the mueller report while also suggesting that democrats have a lot more on their plate than simply focusing on the special counsel. >> if you go throughout the country as i do all the time, people are concerned about their kitchen table issues. are they going to be able to pay the bills? 50% of the american people could

not withstand a 50% surprise, a broken car, broken water heater, whatever it is. so that's what people are concerned about. so i have not been one of these focusers on impeachment and reports and the rest of that. let the chips fall where they may when we have the evidence and the facts. we will see what comes forth, we will see how much the attorney general decided that it was at his discretion to redact. now, i'm an intelligence person, that's one of the places i was forged in the congress. i respect protecting sources and methods. i don't support hiding the truth from the american people. a battle over congressional subpoena power, it is brewing on the hill as the white house moves to resist a number of requests for information. yesterday president trump's private attorneys warned his accounting firm not to comply with a subpoena from the house oversight and reform committee

citing executive privilege, just as two other house committees issued subpoenas to several banks tied to trump businesses. eric trump is calling the subpoenas a, quote, abuse of power from a committee, quote, obsessed with harassing and undermining his father. however, house democrats maintain the moves are not only within scope, but also completely necessary, as investigations into foreign money laundering continue. >> it's truly bizarre because what this is, it's an investigation into russian and eastern european money laundering and taking advantage of western banks, u.s. banks, to hide the proceeds of their corruption, and why is the president's family against that? >> the "washington post" is reporting house democrats and the trump administration are preparing to fight tooth and nail over these subpoenas. in what was supposed to be a meet and greet for south bend

mayor pete buttigieg turned into a full fledged rally yesterday as more than 1,600 people came out to see him in des moines, iowa, but his event was interrupted twice by two anti-gay protesters, at least one of whom showed up to two of buttigieg's events yesterday, stopping his speech when he mentioned his right to marry his husband. >> and as somebody very much enjoying the first year of married life i would agree dom is what's at stake and the idea of whether a county clerk gets to tell you who you ought to mary. >> speaking of things -- you know, the good news is the condition of my soul is in the hands of god but the iowa caucuses are up to you. our marriage exists by the grace of a single vote on the u.s.

supreme court and on this tenth anniversary of iowa breaking some ground in that regard i would like to say thank you. [ inaudible ]. >> we got it. promise you, we got it. remember the beauty of our democracy, everyone here gets the exact same voice and vote. >> and he just keeps moving. prospective 2020 candidate joe biden is going to boston tomorrow where he will rally with striking super market workers. senator elizabeth warren joined the same group on the picket line last week. in south carolina yesterday biden delivered the eulogy at the funeral of his long time senate colleague fritz hollings where he talked about his evolution from a segregationist to an advocate for civil rights. >> in congress he knew how to build collisionalitions. he even now how to get along with straum when he needed to. he into you how to change as well. he changed, he learned.

as he learned, he changed. we have hope that we can learn from the past and build a better future. >> joining me again from washington senior writer at roll call niels lewniewski. niels, let's turn back to the mueller report as we are anticipating the release of it on thursday morning. how are house democrats from what you know preparing for this redacted version? >> so the question really is going to be how much of this report is redacted. as was noted by speaker pelosi in the setup she served on the house intelligence committee for a long time herself and i think that the question is going to be whether or not the redactions are really about sources and methods. if it were to turn out that that was the case, that pretty much the whole report was released, you know, then the discussion of whether or not mr. barr needs to make the unredacted report available might subside somewhat.

so i think there is a wait and see attitude on that, but certainly if the redactions look like they're wholesale and there's lots of names blacked out and you can't really figure out what's going on, then there are going to be more subpoenas and calls for mueller to testify and the like from the house democrats. >> let's talk about these subpoenas from the house oversight committee. obviously the white house, the president, resisting these subpoenas. some of these subpoenas issued to places liesh deutsche bank, bank of america. at what point does the white house have no choice but to comply? >> so where this is is the house is probably going to have to go to court. there is a bipartisan panel in the house technically, although what usually ends up happening is they will vote along party lines so the democrats will be able to go to -- go to court to try to litigate some of this out. so maybe it's not until it gets

to the supreme court, who knows how far it's going to have to go up through the legal process, but obviously once judges start ruling then the white house will need to comply. >> it seems like these days a lot of things are ending up in the court system and sitting there and staying there for quite some time to figure out what actually happens next. niels lewniewski, thank you so much. >> thank you. still ahead, the trump administration's latest crack down at the border. danny savalas is here on set to explain the ag's new order aimed at some asylum seekers. plus another check on the forecast including the threat of severe weather. ng the threat of severe weather [farmers bell]

(driver) relax, it's just a bug. that's not a bug, that's not a bug! (burke) hit and drone. seen it, covered it. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ i couldn't catch my breath.

it was the last song of the night. it felt like my heart was skipping beats. they said i had afib. what's afib? i knew that meant i was at a greater risk of stroke. i needed answers. my doctor and i chose xarelto®. to help keep me protected from a stroke. once-daily xarelto®, a latest-generation blood thinner... significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. in a clinical study, over 96% of people taking xarelto® remained stroke-free. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of stroke. while taking, you may bruise more easily or take longer for bleeding to stop. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. learn all you can...

...to help protect yourself from a stroke. ask your doctor about xarelto®. to learn more about cost and how janssen can help, visit xarelto.com. how janssen can help, i never count trthe wrinkles.s. and i don't add up the years. but what i do count on, is staying happy and healthy. so, i add protein, vitamins and minerals to my diet with boost®. boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals your body needs. all with guaranteed great taste. the upside- i'm just getting started. boost® high protein be up for life. welcome back. the trump administration has taken a new step towards discouraging asylum in the united states. bill barr issued an order directing immigration judges to stop allowing some asylum seekers to post bail while

waiting for their cases to be heard. barr's decision means thousands of asylum seekers who once would have been out on bond and living in the united states while awaiting a decision on their status will now be kept in detention centers. due to the limited capacity barr says his decision should go into effect in 90 days nord to give immigration and customs enforcement time to provide bed space. families with children under 18 will not be affected because of a federal court decision that prevents minors from being held longer than 20 days. joining me on set legal analyst danny savalas. it's been kind of lonely the first half hour of the show, i like having someone on set with me. i miss my friend ayman. >> i mitt him a little. >> good to have you next to me. let's talk about some of the challenges that this new ruling could face from bill barr. >> yes. so people may be very surprised to find that our system of separating the judiciary, the executive and the legislative sometimes doesn't apply if you are in immigration court because

immigration courts are within the executive branch. so the highest authority is not the supreme court, it is the attorney general who can and has overruled the board or the hearing, the courts, the immigration courts' decisions and he did exactly that in this situation. what he said is that the law provides that certain migrants who are initially placed in expedited proceedings, the kind that are designed to get them out of the country as soon as possible, but who then establish a credible fear of persecution get transferred into full proceedings where they have a little more due process. those people under the law shall be detained pending the outcome of their asylum application. that is how barr interpreted the law. whereas, previously another court had determined that they are entitled to bail pending that outcome. >> do you think this was surprising coming from bill barr, this change? >> not at all. it's consistent with the trump

administration's position on expedited removal, on immigration in general. so it's very little surprise that this is the decision of the attorney general, which, again, because the president runs the executive branch and these immigration courts are not in the judiciary, they are in the executive branch, it is a direct -- really a direct trickle down from the white house. >> okay. i want to switch to the mueller report here because we are awaiting the release of this tomorrow morning as we've been talking about the entire show, rudy giuliani says the president's legal team is writing up the rebuttal to the mueller report as we speak and that rebuttal would be likely 30 to 40 pages long because he says 400 pages is really a novel. my first question on this is how do you write a rebuttal to a report that you haven't seen? because everything that we know indicates that the president's legal team has not seen this report. do you know any different? do they have any knowledge of what's inside the report aside from what we know from the barr letter? >> we are in uncharted territory

here, but we can reasonably assume that through their conversations with the special counsel and through maybe back channel means that rudy giuliani and his team have some information, but the notion to me, when i think of the mueller report -- >> how do you come up with 30 to 40 pages on some information? >> exactly. when i think of the amount of data that the mueller team has gone through, warehouses, think of your typical white collar investigation, they have warehouses of documents, things they are going over. i never have been able to picture rudy giuliani pulling up to a warehouse and going page by page through all these documents. we haven't heard that they have a legal team the way the mueller team does that's going through these documents. it's possible, but i don't know in the timeline would be for writing a 30 to 40-page rebuttal. what is their burden? if they view themselves as defense attorneys they don't really have the burden to write a rebuttal report, they are doing it gratuitously. we are in a new area here and there really arguably is no need

to write a rebuttal report. >> it kind of drives home the point that no matter what is in these 400 pages or so, both the republicans and the democrats will have their -- they will choose their sides, i.e., they will pick and choose exactly -- cheshy pick exactly what they want from that report and, you know, drive home what they're thinking versus, you know, taking into account the differences that are -- that we see in the report and evidence that we see in the report. >> we've seen throughout this process that different sides, democrats and republicans, interpret what appears to be unambiguous language in reports and other documents slel differently and there's no reason to think this would be any different. >> all right. thanks, danny. good seeing you. let's get a check on your weather with janessa webb. >> we are already seeing the severe weather starting to spark up and this is unfamiliar territory to severe weather, the dakotas right now under thunderstorm warnings and this will continue to slide into minneapolis as well. this is actually the low that we're going to watch and these

two are going to combine and that's going to cause a spark of severe weather across the southern plains into the southeast. this is going to be a 36-hour to 48-hour event here and unfortunately we just dealt with those 40 confirmed tornadoes just four days ago and now we're seeing that same zone under this risk of severe storms. so oklahoma city possible large hail throughout your afternoon, also these gusts, damaging straight-line winds to 60 miles per hour and the threat really increases even for thursday. we're also watching friday as well. as the flood threat is really going to increase. we're dealing with tropical moisture, 2 to 3 inches really going to be impacting the southeast to the northeast here, going into the weekend. >> thank you, janessa. still ahead, everybody, a major mobile merger appears in jeopardy as it faces resistance from the trump administration. plus, twitter takes new action to combat eye buh sieve behavior but is it enough?

details on those stories driving your business day coming up next. hose stories driving your business day coming up next sometimes, the pressures of today's world can make it tough to take care of yourself. but nature's bounty has innovative ways 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. you might or joints.hing for your heart... nature's bounty. but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

mno kidding.rd. but moving your internet and tv? that's easy. easy?! easy? easy. because now xfinity lets you transfer your service online in just about a minute with a few simple steps. really? really. that was easy. yup. plus, with two-hour appointment windows, it's all on your schedule. awesome. now all you have to do is move...that thing. [ sigh ] introducing an easier way to move with xfinity. it's just another way we're working to make your life simple, easy, awesome. go to xfinity.com/moving to get started.

welcome back. twitter has launched new features it says will combat online abuse and harassment addressing growing news or criticism to create a, quote, healthier twitter. we are live from london. what have they introduced so far and what has been the response? >> that's right, i can't say anyone. twitter have announced they're using these new tools, relying more on technology than human

intervention to combat the problematic accounts. specifically they're suspending more abusive accounts than they were a year ago, taking down abusive tweets that they are now being automatically flagged and repeat suspending more aabusive accounts. followers are blocked from opening new accounts. in terms of numbers, 100,000 abusive accounts were taken down between january and february of this year, a 45% increase from one year ago. to give you some context, not everyone is happy with this. at the end of the day, we don't know how much trolls are slipping through the cracks. this is all fine and well, but we don't have the full numbers. another story in the telecom space, according to "wall street journal," the merger between t-mobile and sprint won't be going ahead. the shares in spirint were down 12% in trading and t-mobile, 4%. the wireless companies argue it is essential to combine to compete with verizon and at&t.

it is ani ongoing story. >> marvel is warning fans to stay offline because there have been leaks shared on social media. if you are a huge fan of marvel comics, you certainly do not want to see any of these things that were possible leaked. what more can you tell us about this? >> that's exactly it. apparently, i mooean, the whole thing has been shrouded in secrecy. disney hasn't allowed journalists to see it before the premiere. there is footage online that is spoiler heavy. disney declined to give an answer. marvel studios did respond, and they addressed the incidents yesterday with a cryptic tweet featuring the hashtag, don't spoil the end game. not everyone guys it though. some people are saying this could be a marketi ining ploy tt more people to watch the movie. the plot thickens. >> thank you very much. coming up, mike allen has a

look at the one big thing. on "morning joe," the president's legal team prepares its rebuttal to the mueller report. what giuliani is saying about his team's response ahead of tomorrow's anticipated release of the documents. the president bashes bernie sanders as he goes after the senator and 2020 hopeful following his town hall on trump's favorite news network. what sanders is saying about the presidential swipe. "morning joe" is moments away.

on a john deere x300 series mower. because seasons change but true character doesn't. wow, you've outdone yourself this time. hey, what're neighbors for? it's beautiful. run with us. search "john deere x300" for more. guys go through a lot to deal with shave irritation. so, we built the new gillette skinguard with a specialized guard designed to reduce it. because we believe all men deserve a razor just for them. the best a man can get. gillette.

how do you get skin happy aveeno® with prebiotic oat. it hydrates and softens skin. so it looks like this... and you feel like this. aveeno® daily moisturizer get skin happy™

welcome back, everybody. joining us from washington with a look at axios am, the co-founder of axios, mike allen. >> good morning and happy mueller eve. >> happy mueller eve. the countdown. talk to us about axios' one big thing today. >> the axios one big thing is a sneak peek of a coming presidential announcement.

so remember when joe biden was spotted in scranton, taping what's obviously an announcement video? well, axios is everywhere. in the axios am reader, a tipster has sent us photos of congressman seth moulton, someone familiar to "morning joe" viewers was on set the other day, is seen here in marblehead, massachusetts, his hometown, taping what is obviously an announcement video. what we're told is that this is for a presidential announcement that will come within the week. he also was spotted filming in vegas about ten days ago, where he did three events with veterans and national security military will be his top issue. >> so this is an already crowded democratic field. i don't even know the number at this point, of how many people are actually running for president. what are moulton's prospects

amongst the field? >> this is a great graphic. i won't count, but i think that seth moulton will be 19, which i think will make vice president biden putting the 20 in 2020. we expect him to announce very shortly after. >> any moment. >> that's right. very shortly after easter. seth moulton is 40 years old and ran on bringing a new generation of leadership to washington. we can see him emphasizing the contrast right after getting out of harvard. on his bio, it says college, not which one. spoiler, right after he got out of harvard, shortly before 9/11, he joined the marines and was one of the first americans into iraq. says that he served in a war he didn't believe in. >> wow. i also know that you're looking at another contender for 2020, beto o'rourke, and how he stacks

up against the president in the eye of the voters in one swing state in particular. what'd you find? >> this is fascinating. it gives us a little preview of what democrats are going to face in the heartland, which is where 2020 is going to be won or lost, the general election. we see beto o'rourke there. in a focus group that was in bowling green, ohio, when voters were asked about younger candidates, and these were swing voters who moved from obama to trump, so they're being watched to see how they're feeling about the coming field, when asked about the younger candidates, they said beto was the most promising. >> wow. >> they weren't sure he could win though. here's what's fascinating, they were shown pictures of candidates and asked to rate them on their recognizability. 12 swing voters were shown pictures of vice president joe biden in office eight years,

five give him a zero for recognizability. >> no. >> yes. why that matters, the democrats in the midwest have a big road ahead in becoming as well-known as the president. his constant access to the airwaves means that democrats have to really get on voters' radar. again and again, these focus groups show that these voters are open to new candidates. they've got to be able to recognize them. >> maybe they should get a reality show. >> it worked last time for sure. >> that makes you recognizable. mike allen, thank you so much. to all our viewers out there, you can sign up for the axios ne newsletter. that does it for me. i'm yasmin. "morning joe" starts right now. as somebody enjoying the first year of married life, i'd say freedom is what's at stake in the idea of whether a county

clerk gets to tell you who you ought to marry. hello again. speaking of things that are at stake, that do not belong to a single political party -- you know, the good news is, the condition of my soul is in the hands of god, but the iowa caucuses are up to you. >> apparently, it is not pete buttigieg's supporters taking notice of his surge. his critics, it seems, are also paying attention, as the south bend mayor rises toward the top of the democratic field. good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it is wednesday, april 17th. joe needed to be off this morning, but he will be back tomorrow with us, tomorrow morning. we have with us today msnbc contributor mike barnicle, contributor to "time" magazine and msnbc political analyst and former aide to the geoe