her father, her mother, snatches of memory. ever farther away. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline". i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. good morning. i'm philip mena. it is 6:00 in the east. 3:00 out west. here's what's happening. >> a new poll on impeachment and whether the american public think president trump lied about the mueller investigation. what was his role. a new report on the deputy attorney general and the efforts to save his own judge. did he cross a line. the president versus congress. his latest efforts to stop white house advisers from testifying on capitol hill. a new look how that battle will unfold. show me the money. one of the most notable aspects of joe biden's first day in his run for the white house. a brand-new poll shows a

majority of americans oppose calls for congress to launch impeachment proceedings against president trump. 56% of americans saying congress should not begin impeachment. house intel committee chair adam schiff addressing the dilemma democratic leaders now face. >> if we don't impeach him, that sends a message that this kind of conduct, this obstruction of justice, that this is non-impeachable. at the same time if we do impeach him and he's acquitted that he's likely to be acquitted then the question is those are not impeachable issues. at the end of the day we need to vote him out of office. >> new numbers show the president's credibility taking a hit. 58% of americans say they believe he has lied to the public about matters under investigation by the special counsel. this as the president continues to blast the investigation.

>> they tried for a coup. didn't work out so well. [ applause ] and i didn't need a gun for that one, did i? >> here's former defense secretary and cia director leon panetta responding. >> the president treats the american people like we're church chumps. he can say whatever he wants and the american president will accept it. new questions about rod rosenstein did to stay in charge of the special counsel's investigation. the deputy attorney general told the president quote i give the investigation credibility. i can land the plane. former chief spokesman at the doj under obama now questioning rod rosenstein's approach. >> the way to understand rod is that he's weak and always been

weak. he was weak at the beginning of this investigation when he signed off on the comey firing and gave the president the excuse despite we now know having read the mueller report why he was firing comey. it was over the russia investigation. >> today president trump will be rallying in green bay, wisconsin. as he skips the white house correspondent's dinner again in d.c. for yet another year. secret service detained a man who owned the cell phone that was thrown on stage as the president walked out for a speech at the nra's annual meeting. the 31-year-old denies owning the phone and claims someone stole it. hans, on this rod rosenstein matter what do we know? >> reporter: what's so important about this report from "the washington post" it sheds light on how rod rosenstein kept his job and what we're learning from the report he basically pled with the president to say keep me in charge of the mueller investigation. now rod rosenstein is so important because he's the one

that was really overseeing what mueller was doing and those quotes you just read saying i give the investigation credibility, i can land the plane. all this was prompted, phillip, because of that "new york times" report that was reported in "the washington post". the "new york times" said rod rosenstein talked about wearing a wire and that he was -- in rod rosenstein's view it might have been a joking matter but there was a question whether or not his loyalty to the president was at all in doubt. so he went to the white house that day, in september rod rosenstein did. he had a phone conversation with the president. that's where he made the case. why this is is interesting because he ended up being along with bill barr saying the president didn't obstruct justice. the two of them signed off on all of this. the president has this odd relationship with the report. he claims it vindicates him while at the same time it was an attempt to remove him from office. >> this was a coup. this was an attempted overthrow

of the united states government. they are trying to infiltrate the administration to, really, it's a coup. it's spying. it's everything that you can imagine. this was an overthrow and it's a disgraceful thing. and i think it's far bigger than watergate. this was a coup. this wasn't stealing information from an office in the watergate apartments. this was an attempted coup, and it's inconceivable. they were really -- there was a coup. that started long before mueller. and that was the whole thing with dirty cops and fbi and all of the things that you know about better than anybody else. if you look at what's been happening and all of the things that you've been seeing with the insurance policies statement. >> reporter: now, phillip, insurance policy statement the president talking about how the fbi didn't want him to win. that's why they had some sort of goods on him. all this gets to the president's

grievances with all this. you heard the same coup language at the nra yesterday. after rod rosenstein on thursday night he gave a public speech where he defended the president, said the president actually allowed this investigation to take place. he was critical of the obama white house for not being stronger on russian interference. one part where he deviates with the president, at least the president's son-in-law he made it seem as if there's a few facebook ads by russia, he said it was only the tip of the iceberg in term of all the interference russia did in the 2016 election. thank you so much. that's just the tip of the iceberg for our discussion. joining me now. senior reporter with business insider and senior political reporter for southern political integrity. thank you for joining us this morning. i want to go back to that poll. 56% of americans think congress should not begin impeachment proceedings. do you think this is a kredirec

correlation? >> the biggest takeaway, especially ahead of the 2020 election, american voters have other issues on their mine. we've seen reporting and andy poling to this effect already which kind of show the russian investigation and mueller's findings ranked either at the bottom or near the bottom of the list of priorities for most american voters. so this isn't all that surprising. what is interesting, though, is this kind of point to as we've seen the kind of political tight rope that, you know, democratic leaders like nancy pelosi and also representative jerrold nadler who is the chair of the committee that's responsible for formally launching impeachment proceedings is the tight rope they are walking. a lot of democratic base want to launch those impeachment proceedings. that's why more progressive members of counsel like alexandria occasio-cortez and senators kamala harris and elizabeth warren are calling for impeachment. at the same time democratic

leaders know if they want to take back the white house in 2020 they are going to have to win over centrist voters and independent voters, perhaps conservative voters who are unhappy with president trump's performance in office. those voters seem to care more things about health care reform and tax reform and immigration. >> david, i want to ask you about that tight rope they are walking. what do you think the numbers mean for democratic leaders who are wrestling over the question whether to impeach or not impeach. >> it's a sophie's choice. if they don't go ahead with impeachment proceedings, they will wrinkle that base. it's an issue of morality you have to go forward and impeach the president. the other side of that equation is that if they do impeach it's almost certain 100% chance just a shade below that, that if you have articles of impeachment against president trump and it goes to the u.s. senate where there's going to be a trial the republicans hold the u.s. senate.

there's absolutely no way that they are going to convict donald trump, knowing what we know right now just based on what's in the mueller report alone. it's a victory for democrats and one that would be fleeting and going into the election something that would give the president new momentum, new fuel and basically saying hey look, witch-hunt 2.0 and i sophisticated thsurvived that as well. >> those new numbers show 58% of americans think the president has lied to the public about matters under investigation by mueller. does this show people aren't buying what the administration is trying to sell here? >> right. that's been an ongoing theme here. a lot of voters, they seem to believe that the president did something wrong but the president lied. at the same time it isn't a priority for them as far as the upcoming election. that's kind of the lens a lot of them are looking at this through. did he do something wrong?

yes. did he mislead the american people? yes. is this a key issue for me when i'm voting democratic or republican or third-party in 2020? no. >> dave of that 58% of americans who say that trump lied, 19% are republicans. so about a third of that number. does that surprise you? >> not really. i mean there's definitely a certain camp within the republican party which is still retaining that no trump, never trump approach which is why you have a candidate like former massachusetts governor bill weld entering the republican primary fray. you may yet of a another candidate or two jump on the republican side down the line. let's be real here. most republicans in this country they support donald trump. they want to see donald trump succeed. they want to see donald trump re-elected. you're always going to have nay sayers. in this case the vast majority of folks on the republican side of the equation still support donald trump and end many

conservative leaning independents do too. >> when we look at the totality of this poll, americans don't want to see impeachment proceedings. how does that add up? >> that deals with the fact they rather see democratic representatives and democratic, you know, congressional leaders putting more energy and resources into the actual policy issues that they care about. also interesting that a lot of americans while they don't support, you know, formally launching impeachment proceedings they do support congressional oversight of the executive branch which means, you know, congressional investigations, looking into the president's tax returns, looking into his financial history. so i think that's, that's a fight the democrats can afford to have and it seems that's why leaders like nancy pelosi, jerrold nadler, the intelligence committee chairman adam schiff are pushing forward full steam on launching more congressional

investigations while kind of pumping the brakes on impeachment. >> president trump is still railing against that russian report. let's listen to his latest attack. >> they tried for a coup. didn't work out so well. [ applause ] and i didn't need a gun for that one, did i? >> what do you think about the president's latest claims of a failed coup? >> well, we've gone from a witch-hunt to a coup. we'll see what it is next. of course, the president talks in these types of terms all the time. he tweets in these types of terms all the time. it's not surprising that when he goes to a rally or a function like the nra function that just took place he'll lay it on the line and speak in the most colorful terms he can. will that change anything at this point? no. he can call it what he wants to. democrats still will be faced with the same issue we just talked about. are we going to impeach donald

trump. will democrats go ahead and have a series of what are going to be investigations at the congressional level. that's almost a certainty. but still they are right back in the same place that effectively they were. >> dave please hang on for us. in a few minutes we'll talk about the president's subpoena fight. new insight inside rod rosenstein and his efforts to safe his own job. we'll talk about this "washington post" article next. ♪ limu emu & doug mmm, exactly! liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. nice! but uh, what's up with your partner? oh! we just spend all day telling everyone how we customize car insurance because no two people are alike, so... limu gets a little confused when he sees

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thank you as well to our deputy attorney general rod rosenstein for being here. flew down together. the press wants to know what did you talk about? [ laughter ] but we had a very good talk, i will say. >> that is the president back in october. and in a new report today we're learning more about discussions around that time between the president and deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. this morning's "washington post" reports rosenstein not only discussed the probe with president trump but reassured him quote i can land the plane because he gives the investigation credibility. he was seeking to diffuse the volatile situation. that volatile situation a report by the "new york times" that allege rosenstein suggested secretly recording the president. joining me now to discuss msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. danny, good morning. should deputy attorney general rod rosenstein even be talking to the president at all about that investigation? >> it's a hard thing to conclude

one way or the other because as the deputy attorney general he is directly accountable to the president. but at the same time this is obviously an investigation that should have been completely independent from the chief executive who was being investigated as a subject and that is a very serious position to be in. if you're of being investigated you want to be a witness, if anything. and if you can help it you don't want to be investigated at all. >> are there any legal ramifications for rosenstein telling the subject of an ongoing investigation that he was on his team? >> the short answer is probably not, especially in the case where the investigation concluded that there was no chargeable offense. so not likely here that rosenstein will be in any legal jeopardy for even having a discussion with president trump about the investigation. >> how concerning is it that the president is able to influence these top doj officials because

rosenstein, he was a witness in this investigation. doesn't that make him compromised from the very beginning? >> constitutionally it may not be that much of a problem. after all, if you believe in the executive theory there's those that believe the chief executive is the embodiment of the executive branch and all investigations under him at the doj necessarily within his purview, arguably even the ones that are supposed to be independent. while the investigation remains independent, at least in terms of gathering intelligence about it, the president may be the one person and the mueller report seems to support this, he may be the one human in the entire universe with the article 2 power to muddy the waters as to whether or not even when he's the subject of an investigation, whether or not he can gather information about that same investigation. >> when it comes to rosenstein do you think he was really there to protect mueller or do you think he was just trying to save his job? >> neither.

i think rosenstein would see this as his role as following the law. as following the investigation and guiding the investigation. it could be i can land this plane statement was really just saying i can see this investigation through to the end. it likely in his mind was not a pledge of loyalty although it's entirely possible that's exactly what it was. most doj folks like rosenstein have lived a life of adherence to one mistress and that mistress is the rule of law. so most doj officials saw this as a legal obligation above any loyalty to the president. but the real story here amazingly is that rod rosenstein reportedly was crying. phillip, there is no crying at the doj. >> all the rules are out the window these days. we'll forgive him. all right, danny cevallos thank you so much for your insight

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breaking news this morning. 15 people are dead in sri lanka after troops raided a safe house. the military says the suspects set off explosions and opened fire as troops closed in. six children are among those killed. here at home truck driver arrested in a fiery crash that killed four people near denver will be in court this morning. 28 cars were involved in thursday's pileup after the semi-truck lost control after coming down a hill. police in california say an iraq war veteran who drove into a crowd of pedestrians did it intentionally because he thought

they were muslims. the driver faces attempted murder charges. the calendar says it's spring but a winter storm is headed for the midwest. that spring snow is expected to hit the dakotas as well as parts of iowa, minnesota and wisconsin today including milwaukee and madison metro areas. now to president trump railing against congressional investigations into his administration. as he vows to fight any subpoenas for white house officials. >> there has never been a president that's been more transparent than me or the trump administration. i let white house counsel mcgahn testify. i let everybody testify. then we have -- again we have to go through it? this is a pure political witch-hunt. >> back here to discuss with business insider and the center for public integrity. you heard what the president said there, how transparent he's been. do you think that's actually the case and if it is, what does it

matter if people testify again or why is he so wrong? >> it's interesting he keeps on kind of throwing out this line i've been so transparent, i've done everything they've asked. he's let everybody testify except for the person who was the most critical to the entire russia investigation which is, of course, himself. his lawyers made it so clear from the beginning that they would, you know, fight any and every attempt by mueller or congressional investigators to get the president to testify about his actions related to the russian probe or any of his financial history when it comes to congress. this line that he's saying that i've been so transparent, it's entirely not true. >> the "new york times" says donald trump shows a new level of contempt for congress. the board says many presidents have resisted congressional demands for testimony and documents but not quite like mr. trump. do you agree with that? has the president's clash with congress unlike anything we've seen? >> very different from what we've seen in recent

administrations both republican and democratic. there's a certain irony that the president is seeking solace or remedy from the judicial branch of the government. he's been incredibly critical of judges, of the courts. that's been the case for many years going back to when donald trump was first running for president. so the notion that he's going to get what he wants out of the courts kind of up in the air right now. this is not going away. congress will do its thing. the congress democrats and the house will do their thing. they telegraphed from the beginning when they took over house to had they won the election that they will do everything they can to make donald trump's life miserable over the next two years short of impeachment question that's still up in the balance. there will be investigations. hearings. into donald trump. into other members of his administration. also going to be to some extent

involving his business empire which strikes to the issue of whether congress is going to be able to get donald trump's tax returns which would reveal an incredible amount of information that donald trump is not being transparent about and that is the confluence of his political interest and business interest. that's a big black box right now. >> president trump is doubling down on disputing a very key finding of mueller's report that he order don mcgahn to fire the special counsel. let's listen to that. >> i never told don mcgahn to fire mueller. if i wanted to fire mueller i would have done it myself. it's very simple. i had the right to. frankly whether i did or he with did, we had the absolute right to fire mueller. >> so do you think this is the president there trying to deny obstructing? >> right. this is something he's been doing from the start. i think there are two key things to takeaway from his comments about the former white house counsel. the first is that mueller's work

as special counsel may be over but the russia investigation is not. the main thing i heard from every doj veteran i've spoken into the last couple of days if the president isn't more careful he could be opening himself up to potentially new charges of obstruction of justice and potentially witness tampering or witness retallytation and these are charges that could be brought after he leaves office which is something, you know, that mueller specifically noted in his report. he said that, you know, a sitting president can't be charged but he can be charged after he leaves office. that's a concern trump could have. the other main thing is that when it comes to don mcgahn, many of trump's offenses when he says he won't talk about the investigation and talk about his conversations with the information white house counsel is to cite executive privilege. after citing executive privilege he goes on twitter and lie about these interactions that mueller has kind of confirmed.

so it's hard to cite executive privilege and lie about it. legal experts say if do you that then the executive privilege claim doesn't hold. >> do you think there's any chance we'll see don mcgahn testifying before congress? >> sure, there's a possibility that don mcgahn and plenty of other people will testify before congress. nobody has blanket immunity of sitting before congress. what we have to expect there will be a fight. the president made it very clear he'll resist congress doing just about anything that it wants to do on the house side in terms of trying to investigate his administration himself, the people around him. now there are going to be hearings. there already have been hearings that involved people like treasury secretary steve mnuchkin and wilbur ross. but that's an aside to the court issue that we're talking about. that's where we expect a fight and one that could go to the courts as well. >> as we hear the president fighting this wave of subpoenas

from congress, omarosa says we could hear a distraction from the trump team. >> he has a list of these very shocking proposals that would come up even when steve bannon was there and steve miller. whenever they needed to throw a hand grenade to blow up the press or take over the front covers of the newspaper they would pull out one of these shocking proposals. >> do you think that happens more than people know? >> yeah. i wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. we've seen that throughout trump's presidency. every time there's a story going on or any kind of headline in the news that seems like it could be detrimental to the president's agenda we see some other reporting that trump, you know, called certain african countries by a derogatory term or trump wants to implement a draconian policy or a new health care plan.

if they are currently planning for that in the coming days. >> what do you think? do you think those distractions are planned? >> the trump administration has a standing squirrel doctorate. look at that thing over there. you'll have news over here one minute that you think is the biggest thing in the world. a moment later the president changed the conversation. so, of course, donald trump, that's his standard playbook. expect him to keep playing from it. >> all right. thank you forgoing us today. the $2 million question about otto warmbier and the bill that the north koreans wanted the u.s. to pay. and a quick programming note. msnbc is now live every saturday and sunday at 6:00 eastern. we're back in a moment.

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next battle 2020. saturday on the stump. look for the union label. six of the democratic contenders will speak today at a forum for organized labor in las vegas. among them beto o'rourke will attend a rally in los angeles. kilimanjaro wi kirsten gillebrand will campaign in new hampshire. cory booker will campaign in south carolina. >> we're in a battle for the soul of this nation. >> declaring his candidacy, joe biden holds a six-point lead over bernie sanders. former vice president is still a betting favorite to win the democratic nomination with 3-1

odds. pete buttigieg is second. bernie sanders 5-1. beto o'rourke at 7-1. kamala harris at 8-1. jared kushner is joining the white house condemnation of the investigation with a 2016 trump campaign and his ties to russia. president trump is describing that investigation as an attempted coup. while kushner is down playing the effects of russia's efforts. >> the whole thing is a big distraction for the country. you look what russia did, buy some facebook ads it's a terrible thing but i think the investigations and all the speculation that's happened for the last two years had a much harsher impact on democracy than facebook ads. >> joining me from overseas, christopher dickey. christopher, given that the president was not charged is kushner's analysis fair? was this just much ado about a couple of facebook ads?

>> no, of course that's not fair. it's actually quite stupid and misleading. the real problem here, there's a real problem with the investigation and been a problem for american democracy and that's been president trump's resistance and efforts to obstruct the investigation. which has gone on since he was a candidate and continued once avenues president. there would be no national trauma if he had said right at the beginning of his presidency oh, my god i can't believe what i'm discovering about what the russians did all of which we know in great detail now and he was shown very early on. if he said we must get to the bottom of this and i'll leave no stone unturned there would have been an investigation know the russians but not him to. he couldn't do that. his ego said his mandate with the great popular vote which he didn't get would be threatened by that. it will be threatened even worse by the history of russian

interference in the last election and it looks like it again in the next. >> fbi director christopher wray is warning of potential russian meddling in the 2020 elections. a few days ago the "times" reported former secretary kirstjen nielsen was warned not to raise the security wish fortunate. what message do you think that sends to russia and others who might want to harm our democracy? >> the message is to russia, give it a shot. see if you can do it. you know, really there won't be any consequences because i donald trump don't want to be feel threatened by the fallout. i'll call it a witch-hunt. i'll have jared kushner go out and say it's a couple of facebook ads and downplay it as much as possible. there's a whole babt about whether there was or wasn't inclusion. inclusion in the broad sense, not the legal sense, not the very narrow legal sense of conspiracy, but in the way everybody understands it.

that was all over the place. it was and is all over the place. we see it every day and kushner's remark was one of the latest examples when you downplay a crime against america you're colluding with the criminals. >> should we expect having expected russia to try to attack us in that way regardless of the rhetoric on the united states? >> reporter: well, i think that -- look. vladimir putin hated hillary clinton and wanted her defeated. if he couldn't defeat her he wanted her discredited. i think he thought trump was a great agent to do that whether he won the election or not. that's why he supported trump. putin is out for all he can get. we see that also with his meeting with kim jong-un. he wants to put himself into the middle of the negotiations with north korea and put himself in a position where he'll be thanked if there's any advance on that front. putin is a brilliant

manipulator. >> north korea demanded $2 million before it would release otto warmbier and u.s. officials signed a document agreeing to pay that. here's how president trump respond. we don't have that sound bite, christopher. what is your interpretation of how that went down with north korea sending a bill to the united states of $2 million and us agreeing to pay that? >> reporter: oh, you mean that trump agreed to pay a bill and reneged on it? that sounds like standard operating procedure for donald trump. it's not just that. look the way he paid the bill was not with $2 million cash. he doesn't deny the bill was handed over. he only denies the cash was paid. the currency he paid with was american prestige by agreeing to sit down with kim jong-un in what we now understand perfectly clearly was an almost worthless

negotiation in hanoi. while it was a worthless negotiation in hanoi and before that. so, i think that, you know, look, the currency he paid was american prestige. >> the invoice was sent to the state department and the president denied that payment was made. let's talk about the kim jong-un-vladimir putin summit that you mentioned earlier. why do you think he's embracing kim this way and injecting himself as the mouthpiece to the u.s.. >> reporter: putin wants to be center stage on the international scene. this reminds me of the way putin stepped in in 2013 when obama was in a tough place having drawn a red line against chemical weapons in syria and then put in a position where the u.s. and allies were not willing to act in accord. what happened? putin stepped in. i'll solve this problem for you.

i think putin is positioning himself now to play that same kind of game with north korea and the united states. the negotiations are at a standstill. they are going nowhere. if they go somewhere now putin will claim credit and probably trump will want to give him credit. we already see him edging in that direction. >> christopher dickey as always we appreciate your expertise. looks like a beautiful day in paris. the president versus house democrats. in the next hour thoo, the auth shares why the new congress might benefit trump. ter. ter. the exercise. the fiber. month after month, and i still have belly pain and recurring constipation. so i asked my doctor what else i could do, and i said yesss to linzess. linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. linzess is not a laxative, it works differently. it helps relieve belly pain and lets you have

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only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ in power, politics and paychecks a growing economy despite a slow down in consumer spending the gdp rose 3.2% in the last three months thanks in part to higher exports. it's the best first quarter performance in four years. the gdp report triggered a rally on wall street pushing the s&p 500 and nasdaq to record highs. president trump hailed the gdp number and then said something that precipitated a 4% plunge in

oil prices. >> the gasoline prices are coming down. i called up opec. i said you got to bring them down. you got to bring them down. and gasoline is coming down. >> actually, gasoline prices has been rising with the average 20 cents higher than a month ago. cnbc has uncovered none of that trump talked to anyone at opec but the president has repeatedly called on peck to increase production to reduce gas prices. new this morning former vice president joe biden is out of the guest with an apopping fundraising number cementing his status as the 2020 front-runner. they are announcing $6.3 million in donations during the first 24 hours of his accommodatecy the biggest of any democratic candidate. joining me now to discuss, a former senior adviser to hillary clinton's campaign and republican strategist holly

turner. biden, he put in a lot of work behind-the-scenes so he could start this off with a big splash like he's done. why is this first day fundraising number so important? >> first of all, this is a lesson for future candidates who were thinking about running for office. being methodical, be strategic and timing is everything. i think vice president biden's announcement shows that. as it relates to his candidacy this in my opinion shows biden card takes up a lot of space on the political highway and most people view him as a person who has the gas in the tank to get us down the road to be where we need to be. i think out the gate his fundraising numbers show his strength. it also shows other candidates that they are going to have to step up their game if they want to stay in this race from a long term standpoint. >> holly, president trump is already taking on joe biden directly and biden is responding for his part. let's watch a clip of that back

and forth. >> well, i think we're calling him sleepy joe because i've known him for a while and he's a pretty sleepy guy. he's not going to be able to deal with president xi. >> so you aren't sleepy joe? >> that's first time i've ever been referenced that way by anyone else. usually, you know, the other end, hyper joe. >> holly, do you think it's a mistake for president trump to go after biden especially at this very early stage of the race. do you think it's elevating it will be trump versus biden? >> i wouldn't call that going after biden. i mean he was just kind of poking some fun at him. he's done that with all the democratic candidates that have come out so far. i don't think he's just particularly picking on biden, and it's not going to elevate his race. biden has a challenge in front of him. he has to run on obama's record. so far he's produced no new ideas or new policies of his own.

it will be all about hating trump and let's bring back the obama economy and i don't know voters will buy that. >> holly, bless your heart. let's not do this. i'll be very proud to compare barack obama's legislative record and the things he accomplished versus donald trump's first four years and at the end of the day that's why you saw what you saw in the 2008 mid-terms because that's why donald trump won. joe biden has his own record to stand on outside of the work he did for eight successful years with barack obama who, in my opinion, transformed this country in a way that we've never seen before. >> let's listen to how biden's kick-off video went. he emphasized trump's response to charlottesville. here's what president trump had to say about that yesterday. >>

>> i've answered that question. if you look at what i said. you'll see that question was answered perfectly. and i was talking about people that went because they felt very strongly about the monument to robert e. lee a great general whether you like it or not. >> looks like that was a different sound bite. still, what's your reaction to the president's stance on revisiting how he handled the charlottesville incident. >> i'll tell you how i learned in south carolina, leopards don't change their spots and zebras don't change their stripes. donald trump started his campaign with rhetoric that was addressed to a certain group of people. and now he wants to downplay charlottesville. he wants to energize his base. we shouldn't expect anything different from donald trump. >> holly, is president trump helping joe biden make his point with that response?

>> well, look, if i were advising joe biden i would not have him focus on race issues as a part of his platform. he certainly does not have the track record on that. so i'm a little surprised he went there. i think especially in this primary it's cut throat. he's going to be held accountable for some of the things he's done in the past, the votes he's made and some of the things that he's done, anita hill comes to mine and the way he handled her testimony during her hearing. so i'm a little surmd he did that. look the president is not going to stand by and let people say things. he's always going to respond. this is important to him. he'll set the record straight. it's frustrating to him because he does have his words taken out of context frequently by the mainstream media. antwan, come on, you know this. >> holly, you have republicans calling donald trump out for his response to charlottesville. you and i both know that could have been handled a totally

different way. and we shouldn't be having racism discussions. we swept things like racism under the rug for far too long in this country. somebody has to have a conversation otherwise we're going see a repeat of history that i don't think -- >> conversation is good. if i were joe biden i just wouldn't make that a central part of my platform. >> he doesn't have to make it a central part, but that's what you do. you run away from issues. >> is the discussion here must continue for another day. thank you both for joining us this morning. the president and his battle with congress fresh insight from the author avenue book. we'll have his take on how this impeachment debate will play out. that's in our next hour. don't tell your mother. dad, it's fine. we have allstate. and with claimrateguard they won't raise your rates just because of a claim. that's why you're my favorite... i know.

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that wraps up this hour of "msnbc live". i'm phillip mena. it's now time for "weekends with alex witt". in for alex witt is morgan radford. >> good morning to all of you from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. it's 7:00 in the east. 4:00 out west. first up big money joe biden raises a lot of cash. but he does hit some speed bumps during his first 48 hours as a presidential candidate. questions now about his age already coming up. i am a young, vibrant man.

i look at joe, i don't know about him. >> if he looks young and vibrant compared to me i should probably go home. >> the push for impeachment. what a new poll says about what americans really want. >> plus sentenced. the russian woman who tried to infiltrate american politics finally learns her fate. new this morning, a poll just out shows a majority of americans now oppose calls for congress to launch impeachment proceedings against president trump. 56% of americans say congress should not begin impeachment in the wake of special counsel robert mueller's report. adam schiff addressing the dilemma democratic leaders are now facing. >> if we don't impeach him, that sends a message that this kind of conduct, this obstruction of justice, that this is non-impeachable. at the same time if we do impeach him and he's