she's awesome. thank you, so are you. >> bye. a good day to all of you at msnbc headquarters here in new york. high 90s in the east. on the same page with north korea's kim jong-un. what the press secretary said about the president's take on joe biden. >> we only get one shot at this. i want to make sure we get it right. >> democrats can sing and dance at the same time just like beyonce. >> the impeachment debate intensifying among democrats one month and counting. the first expectations for the debates. how the president is handling his moment in the spotlight overseas. that's where we begin, tokyo where the president started the day golfing, dining and wautchig a sumo race with president

shinzo abe. back home, the president defending kim jong-un's missile launches while bashing former vice president joe biden. the white house saying missile tests aren't bothering the president despite concerns they violated a resolution. >> the president's focus in all of this process is on continuing the very good relationship that he has with chairman kim, and he feels good that the chairman will stay firm with the commitment that he made to the president and move towards denuclearization. that's our focus. >> nbc's kristen welker is joining us now from tokyo where it's very early in it is morning for you, after 1:00 in the morning. what can you tell us about today? there was a lot going down, kristen. >> reporter: what a remarkable day we witnessed, alex. on the one hand you had this personal diplomacy unfolding, as you mentioned, at the top. president trump playing golf

with the prime minister, then attending that sumo wrestling match, handing out that 6-foot trophy rp trophy, the presidential trophy, it's being called, the first world leader to do that. on the other hand, potentially undercutting all that diplomacy with his tweets and his taunts. that tweet you focused on, alex, let's just read the whole thing and pick it apart piece by piece. the president tweeting, north korea fired off some small weapons which disturbed some of my people and others, but not me. i have confidence that chairman kim will keep his promise to me and also smiled when he called swampman joe biden, which he originally spelled bid-i-d-a-b- and worse. it is a rebuke of the host country. the prime minister of japan saw north korea's recent missile tel tests as essentially a violation

of u.n. security resolution. it's also an offense to the security adviser john bolton who said he also saw it as a violation of u.n. resolutions. but as you mentioned, sarah huckabee sanders digging in, defending the president, and also takes aim with joe biden siding with kim jong-un. take a look at what she had to say about that point when she was pressed by chuck todd. >> the president is not siding with that, but i think they agree in their assessment of former vice president joe biden. again, the president's focus in this process is the relationship he has in making sure we continue on the path toward denuclearization. that's what he wants to see and that's certainly what the people in this region want to see. >> reporter: so that is the political backdrop, the

president in for the evening as he gets ready for another very busy day. but that is a threat from north korea and that could potentially change the talks with the prime minister on monday, alex. >> can i ask if any diplomacy talks took place today, kristen? >> reporter: what an important question. look, this was about reaffirming the relationship, that very strong personal bond, that trump has with prime minister abe. this is his second visit to japan, afr ater all, and chk to the prime minister has visited the white house as well. what sort of progress was made on the policy front? not a lot so far, and they've been downplaying expectations from the start. look, they are going to have a bilateral meeting tomorrow, alex. they're going to hold a joint press conference at the end of that meeting. what the president and prime minister want is a big trade deal. it doesn't look like they'll get it right now because there are parliamentary elections coming

up next month, the president tweeting as much saying, great progress being made in our trade negotiations with japan. agriculture and beef heavily in play and i expect big numbers. that's pretty much what the president portrayed when he had a dinner with the prime minister overnight. but look, alex, it doesn't look like they'll get that big trade deal. on that point, quite concerned as well because they're witnessing this trade war between the u.s. and china. they don't want the same thing to happen here. the president mentioned beef and agriculture for japan, and the big issue is tariffs on cars. they want to avoid that. there are a lot of sticky points being made. i'm listening to the local commentary, alex, which is where you get your biggest insight. they're not really going to get down to business, get down to those details for several months, alex. >> duly noted, kristen welker in

tokyo. thank you. the calls for proceeding with impeachment against the president is growing among democrats, but while they say the road is inevitable, today there are differing opinions on when they'll get there. >> this is not about the 2020 election, it's about doing what's right right now for our country. this is a precedent set when we don't hold the president accountable for the rule of law. >> politics don't dictate a decision to impeach or politics don't dictate a decision not to impeach? we need to follow the law. we need to make sure the constitution is the guiding principle in terms of the way forward. >> impeachment is a political act, but i'm one of those who believe we'll inevitably have an impeachment proceeding. i co-sponsored an impeachment proceeding in the last congress. i'm ready to go. a lot of my colleagues are not ready to go there yet. >> senate judiciary chair

lindsey graham giving house speaker nancy pelosi a warning this mourning should she choose to go down that road of impeachment. >> reporter: 70% of the democratic base wants president trump impeached. she knows impeachment would be political suicide because she knows there is no way to impeach the president. she's trying to keep the party intact if they go down that r d road, and president trump gets reelected. her job is very much at risk. attorney general bill barr given sweeping powers to inspect the probe. >> for the president of the united states to instruct the attorney general to do that, again, it looks like he's using the attorney general to be his personal lawyer rather than having the attorney general look at whether there are still ongoing threats to our country. >> but the white house pushing back, defending both the need

for the investigation and their trust in bill barr. here's what press secretary sarah sanders said on "meet the press." >> we already know that there was an outrageous amount of corruption that took place at the fbi. they leaked information, they lied, they were specifically working, trying to take down the president, trying to hurt the president. we'll leave the final call up to the attorney general and he'll get to the bottom of it, but we think americans deserve the truth. >> well, joining me now to talk about all of this, emily no, politics reporter for "news day," charlie savage, washington correspondent for the "new york times," and vanity fair columnist. i want to start with the president's tweet on north korea. kristen went through it, but let's go through it again. folks can read it here, but charlie, is it bad form that he is siding with kim jong-un while he is being the honorary guest

of the japanese prime minister? >> you know, we run out of things you can say are i h trump presidency. he brings new ones that were unthinkable just a few years ago, siding with not just any foreign leader but one of the most brutal leaders of the world who has insulted a domestic political opponent just leaves everyone speechless, i think. >> i know you're struggling to find the words because we all think, really? i can't believe he's doing this. in addition to that, the president brought up joe biden in the same tweet, which how one got to the other is quite interesting, but he was also tweeting this separately. numerous japanese officials told me that the democrats would rather see the united states fail than see me or the republican party succeed. death wish. do you want to break down that message, emily?

what is the president saying there, because the u.s. has always had one voice on foreign policies. do you think this president risks setting up a situation where world leaders would pick which political party here in the u.s. they prefer to work with? >> it's interesting he's choosing this wording in tweets he's sending to japan, because he's not talked a lot about how he's going to stop foreign intervention and foreign efforts to meddle in upcoming elections. this is a topic he shies away from very much. in his republican voice to the world, he tries to decide with dictators and foreign interests over fellow americans is something to behold for sure. >> what about sarah sanders? she kept coming back to this point that the focus of the president is to denuclearize. then you see lindsey graham saying they're trying to give the president some space to come back to the table. is there any truth in that?

>> i think the challenge the president has is this has been something that has occupied administrations going back 30-plus years. we've tried carrots and sticks with the administration, and chairman kim believes that his regime survival depends on having the leverage of having nuclear weapons. so we're playing this whole dance-out once again, and i think what is striking this time around is that the degree to which the president is willing to offer carrots to it the kim regime, lavishing praise, going further than any u.s. president has gone at least in my political lifetime. i don't think the dynamics are fundamentally new, i just think it is president is grasping at something that has bedevilled

every american program. >> the trump versus pelosi feud, they've all been throwing jabs and questioning each other's mental state. now backers of the president and pelosi say, you know, our side got the upper hand in this fight. charlie, does anyone gain from this, politically speaking? >> i think that nancy pelosi remains committed to the idea that while trump may have committed impeachable offenses from her faction's point of view, at least, there is no way an impeachment process ends with him being removed by republicans in the senate. we are not in the situation we were in in 1974 when the republican party came to eventually see that richard nixon needed to go. it's a different party. so she thinks it's elusive for democrats to go through that process. picking a fight with trump and having him go after her in such a personal way, i think, helps

her, buys her a little time because it helps the left unite around her in being annoyed at trump. >> is that your calculation as well, emily, because we have not seen this from this speaker before. she's a very intelligent woman, she's very well-seasoned, she knows exactly what impact her words have. >> absolutely. the timing is awkward, of course, because we're looking to the 2020 elections, and she very much wants to keep the democrats in the house, especially with the republicans leading the senate. and as charlie pointed out, any sort of impeachment inquiries or proceedings stopping before it gets to the senate. she has to stand up to trump. he's known, of course, as a counterpuncher, and she wants him to know she can punch as well. >> lindsey graham is warning the

president, don't disengage with democrats despite all their investigations, which is what the president said he was exactly going to do when he stormed out of that meeting. here's what graham said. >> from president trump's point of view, i disagree with the idea that you can't work with him while they're doing things like this. you have to work with him. you can't control, mr. president, what the democrats do, but you can control what you do. they say no to you, that will help you. if they say yes and work with you, that will help the country. >> is the president making the risk here? the ultimate loser is the public and they could ultimately take that frustration to the polls eight months from now. >> when barack obama was elected, the republicans decided in lockstep that they would oppose everything regardless of the underlying politics. so the idea that democrats, that the president should now work with democrats, i think, shows

the degree to which there is concern going into the 2020 cycle. and trump's reelection is going to depend on, yes, never sort of stopping campaign mode. but if he can't win over suburban voters who broke with democrats in 2018, that's going to pose an existential crisis for the president's reelection chances. i think you see from senator grarm that line of thinking. whether the president does it, i think, is probably a long shot. . we'll try to score an infrastructure deal or any past measures? >> i think it would be of his interest to pass an infrastructure deal that would further keep the economy going. sooner or later, this economy is

going to break and that might push it past 2020. which means democrats wouldn't want to work with him, although policy merits might be good for the country. spinning off senator graham, he has been trying to court president trump, praise president trump, defend him and then use the influence he accrues from that to achieve policy that he thinks is good for the country, and there continues to be no evidence that that's working. he says we valley to shut off approxima approximate. so this dance continues, but without much results. >> guys, thank you so much. happy memorial day tomorrow. >> thank you. breaking right now, rescue and recovery teams are sifting through the rubble left behind by a powerful attorney. it is riddled with overturned cars, completely riddled homes,

twisted metal as well. severe thunderstorms and torrential rains have pounded that region in recent days, and dozens of people are now being treated at area hospitals. many people still missing. reports of at least two that have been killed. one neighbor describes what happened when that tornado hit. >> we had debris knocking us all down. there was no way we could have gotten out without help. >> reporter: you said your son showed up later? >> i had 2% on my phone. i hit the button and told him we got hit. the boys are fine. and within five minutes he was there. >> that's the story right there. the national guard was also on the scene. they were assisting with recovery and rescue efforts. we'll bring you more news about this in the next hour. sto

stomp. building a case for impeachment. i'm going to ask the panel about this, next. i'm going to ask the panel about this, next. ms of protein and 1 gram of sugar ensure. for strength and energy.

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if we don't impeach this president or attempt to, based on the litany of offenses that he has committed, then i think impeachment means nothing. we ought to just remove it from the constitution. >> impeachment would be political suicide because there is no reason to impeach the president. >> this man has done far more in terms of committing impeachable

offenses than richard nixon ever thought about committing. >> a clash over the impeachment inquiry is merited with this president, but a new poll found 65% of americans thought democrats should not begin impeachment proceedings. ruben gallegos is a member of the armed services committee. ruben, welcome to the broadcast. thanks so much for joining me this weekend. >> thanks for having me. >> i believe you said your party wants to build a case for impeachment, and that would be based on robert mueller's testimony. he said he performed obstruction of justice. wouldn't that be enough for impeachment? >> at least for the impeachment inquiry, which happens first before there is actually impeachment. but we have to have some level of public support which i think we'll get that once we have

testimony from mueller. if mueller somehow doesn't testify or is blocked from tefltefl testifying, then i think we do proceed for impeachment. >> politics should count for impeachment nor prevent it. can you say politics is having a greater influence on preventing these proceedings? >> i do think at least some of the decision makers are a little gun-shy because they believe somehow this will be a repeat of bill clinton and newt gingrich from back in the day, that somehow this will be a blowback on democrats. i don't believe that's the case. i do believe this president is deeply unpopular. we just saw the elections prove that. once we do start impeachment proceedings, i believe we'll have the public's support to go there. but we do need to do this in a respectful manner to the constitution. we don't want to set a bad precedent so the next time

democrats are in charge that they begin weaponizing the impeachment process. >> fredricka wilson said on wednesday, i believe that the president of the united states is on the cusp of taking us to war without the consent of congress because he fears impeachment. do you believe it is possible he could take the u.s. to war to avoid impeachment? >> certainly. actually, i do. with the combination of a couple things. you have a couple neo-cons and bolton within the white house, and you have a president who has no boundaries, has no sense of decency, has zero understanding of what war is, that he would likely trip us into a war to avoid impeachment or just for a distraction. it's sad to say. i would never say that about any other president, democratic or republican. this president just doesn't have what other presidents have had, which is a sense of grounding and wanting to do better for

this country. >> a couple of important issues i want to get your thoughts on. first the trump administration says it's going to send 1500 more troops to the middle east. secondly, it also plans to sell weapons to saudi arabia, circumventing congress on that weapons sale, by the way. which of these is more concerning to you? you can take them both or one at a time. >> i would say the weapons sale to saudi arabia is more concerning because he's clearly going around congress and using an underhanded manner to sell weapons to a country that murders journalists, that is executing a war in yemen, that is targeting vooi inin ining ci specifically and using armaments. it has nothing to do with our view and stance in the world, it has more to do with the trump bottom line. leaders around the world know that in order to get in good favor with the united states, all they have to do is really find a way to do business with

the trumps or with kushner. >> that is extraordinary. give me also your thoughts on the 1500 troops. >> the 1500 troops actually are not that significant. it's a part of a movement that's already planned. they're largely a petrol battery company which you do need, obviously, for any type of missile threat. all in all, it's within his jurisdiction to move certain troops around, which they are this for a place in power. i believe him going around congress is a bigger problem. >> let's turn to the president's pardon or at least consideration of pardoning war criminals. i know you're an iraq war veteran. there is a new article in which is detailing why this itself may be, quote, a violation of the laws of war if not a war crime, because it is the president's duty to prevent and punish

violations of the laws of war. what is your take on this whole issue? >> this whole issue, number one, is very dangerous. it is anti-military what he's doing and it's disgraceful. i was in some of the hardest combat you've ever seen in iraq and i lost way too many of my friends, and we conducted ourselves the best we could with our honor. and to think he would pardon some of these men that specifically targeted women and children, killed them with a sniper rifle and boasted about it. and the fact that seven s.e.a.l.s essentially put their life on the line and reported this person. they'll be turned over back to their own command and looked on at traitors. the president has broken down what we've built for so many years because he doesn't understand the military. the majority of veterans would say this is anti-veteran, this

is dangerous, and it actually only makes our troops more -- puts them more at peril when they go overseas. >> bold statements there. let's talk, before i let you go, about what's happening on the border as we have six children who have died now in u.s. custody. doesn't the answer to fixing this problem need to be a bipartisan thing? there has to be some way we can reach an agreement. does there have to be more depth to get to that? >> i think the way this administration defines bipartisanship is we just give them our votes without any type of legislation. we've actually tried to work with the white house, the republicans, to send humanitarian aid down to the border. more judges, more doctors, more beds. there is so many other things we could do. we've also suggested that you could have people apply for

refugee statutes. but the president doesn't actually want a compromise. he wants more spectacular shows of force instead of coming to a compromise. only this president can mess up his one campaign issue which is immigration. he now pulls in a negative 38% in terms of this issue. if he was actually smart, because that's what he worries about most is winning his reelection, he could work with us in a bipartisan manner. we have and we're willing to do it, but he's just decided not to go with us. political or personal? leading lawmakers say jerry nadler is out to ruin the president and his family. really? family really this is the story of john smith.

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what nadler is doing is trying to destroy the president and his family. if i were the president, i would fight back against this political revenge coming out of the house. sdp >> republican senator lindsey graham after they issued subpoenas to hope hicks as well

as amy donaldson, former house secretary for don mcgahn. analyst and republican strategist susan del percio, also a political analyst. to this idea that jerrold nadler wants to destroy the president and his family. >> i basically have pity for lindsey graham who i used to have a lot of respect for. we were friendly in the past. but you might recall that when he was in the house, he was one of the leaders of the impeachment effort against bill clinton. and there is tape on youtube that you can watch of graham saying, you don't need the president to have committed a crime, you don't need to have him have done anything that somehow even skates the law. all you need is for him to be a person of bad character who has dishonored the office of

president. that is enough to impeach him and remove him from office. that was his position in 1998 and 1999. and for him to now say that it is not even legitimate for the house of representatives to have an inquiry about this president is just outrageous hypocrisy. he knows better. he's just trying to make sure that he gets reelected in south carolina and doesn't have primary opposition from a trumpster. it's kind of pathetic, alex. >> that's an extraordinary effort of what he said. that needs to be found and posted somewhere. susan, with senator graham's statement here, he seems to think it goes beyond politics, that this is a personal takedown. do republicans feel that way, and if so, is there any convincing them otherwise? >> republicans for the most part, they may not say it on

television, but we know that chairman nadler is doing his job. that's what you're supposed to do as the chairman of the judiciary. they're conducting oversight hearings, they haven't started impeachment hearings yet or the inquiry. and they are lining up testimony. which would make sense considering they're both -- hope hicks and the other one was -- >> annie. >> -- annie, thank you, was mentioned in the mueller report. this is all very logical. one of the reasons why nadler has to do what he's doing is they're not releasing the underlying documents of the mueller report. so if the president believed in transparency, he would actually provide that. now, the other thing about lindsey graham, i think that lindsey graham probably called donald trump more negative names during the primary season than nadler ever did and made it personal -- ever did to president trump. >> he called hum a con man. literally, quote, unquote. >> and donald trump put out his cell phone number.

and the back and forth between them at times was downright ugly, which makes it even more spectacular that lindsey graham has turned into the sycophant that he is. john is right, he's trying to keep himself out of primary. >> he also spoke about the rift among democrats over impeachment, which he is saying would be political suicide. what is your take on that? is it political suicide? and somehow democrats should weigh politics against principle here. they know they could probably get a certain vote in the house, but it's going to go much differently, in all likelihooli in the senate. >> when i hear someone like lindsey graham say it's political suicide, it makes me think it's not political suicide. that's actually been my position for some time now. i think the conventional wisdom that somehow the democrats are going to go over the cliff and

hand the election to trump if they move forward with impeachment is not accurate. that by laying the whole thing out, by letting the american public see the movie since a lot of them didn't read the book of the mueller report, you know, could be very important in depriving him of reelection. and if he's impeached, even if he's not removed, which he won't be by the senate, that impeachment will stain him and hurt him in his reelection efforts. having said that, i think pelosi is pursuing the right course is holding back for now until there is more information on the record, and then at that point, they can move toward impeachment. but i hope they do so sometime in the next few months. >> susan, can i play quickly a clip from pete buttigieg, the 2020 democratic candidate, who sees a case for impeachment but is leaving it up to the house. here he is. >> what's interesting is a case for impeachment is being made

most emphatically by the president himself, because it seems like every day or two, there are another affront to the rule of law. i'm just trying to be respectful of the fact that the best thing i can do to get us a new president is to win the nomination and defeat the president who is there. i think democrats are under estimati underestimating, despite his popularity, the chance that he could win. >> so he's saying the president is giving fuel to the whole impeachment talk and the democrats are underestimating whether or not this president can be reelected. what are your thoughts? >> since practically everyone underestimated the fact that president trump could be elected in 2016 should have their guard up. donald trump hurts himself every day, or so we think, because he's every day building that up.

some democrats think they should wait until 2020 because an election is coming, i remember distinctly in 2016 when there was a vacancy on the supreme court and everyone thought merrick garner should get a hearing -- well, the democrats did -- and they pushed back and said there will be an election and it will be decided then. i think that was wrong then, and i think it's wrong now if the democrats do not live up to their constitutional responsibility. that's going to be a wrap right now. jonathan, susan, i hope you guys have a wonderful memorial day holiday. >> you, too, alex. joe biden might be facing some potential red flags. we'll talk about that next. we'lt

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developing this hour, the battle for 2020 heating up with the first debates now just a month away. joe biden topping the real clear politics average with over 34%, bernie sanders is his closest competitor with over 17%. joining me now, larry sababatow. you sent me an email that i looked at here where the averages in new hampshire, that lead shrinks to 28% and iowa goes down further, to 23%. are these red flags for biden's status as a frontrunner?

because you're going state-by-state versus national. >> you summed it up well, alex. that's the key for biden. he has to do well in iowa and new hampshire, if he can. he's probably going to do well in south carolina which comes afterwards, but iowa and new hampshire, as we all know, are heavily white states, disproportionately rural, at least compared to the rest of the democratic country, and those are places where biden might not do as well as he would hope to do, and once you lose momentum, other candidates can pop up quickly. i'm not saying that will happen, but people are just saying the nomination process is over. no, it's not even close to being over. whatever anybody says about the nomination process has the intelligence of a peach fly. >> look, it's so interesting there because his numbers are inverse, if you will, national

6.2%, and hifr higher in new hampshire and iowa. >> he's doubling in iowa and new hampshire, and i'm not saying he'll make it, but definitely keep an eye on him, and if he pops up in iowa and new hampshire, he'll make the nomination. >> let's say joe biden goes on the first night. does that mean the second night would be better for someone else to grab the spotlight? >> well, it would be better for a lesser known candidate because there is no question that the dedate joe biden is in, and biden is the clear frontrunner, it's going to revolve around joe biden. i think you would probably rather be with the other group. but alex, think of it this way.

if biden is in that first debate, the larger audience is going to be on night 1. there is going to be maybe significant falloff to the second night, and some of those lesser known people will get cheated. >> maybe he goes on the second night and that would do something for the ratings. with regard to the new head-to-head polls, they're looking at how biden would fare in the crucial state of florida. sanders and buttigieg both at 48% each. does that show what could happen in 2020? >> georgia is worth focusing on and several others. it would be, other than pennsylvania, michigan and wisconsin, it would be florida. florida is still very close, alex. the republicans are winning by a

smidgen. the problems for all democrats is they are missing all big elections by a smidgen. you have majorities of 50 to 70% when you put together all the polls of americans who say they will not reelect donald trump. how does that compare to recent two-term presidents at this stage like clinton, bush 43 and obama? >> take those presidents who all ses served two terms. in the first term, about 30% said they would not reelect these presidents. donald trump is the first president we've had, i think since polls have been taken, where you have a solid majority

saying, i will not vote for this guy under any conditions. that doesn't mean he'll lose. he can win by 46% like he did in 2016, especially with independent and third-party candidates. >> republicans should not take that to the bank, that's for sure. thank you. have a good holiday tomorrow. how allowing the attorney general to declassify secrets could be a threat to the country. ssify secrets could be a threat to the country. when you shop for your home at wayfair, you'll find just what you need and so much more. you get to spend less time searching

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president trump giving his attorney general sweeping new powers to look into the start of the russia probe. bill barr can now declassify sensitive material from the country's intelligence agencies to help his investigation. joining me now is former cia officer and writer for the cipher brief. john, whethering elcome to you. is there any way for bill barr to conduct this investigation without revealing anything top secret or outing anyone? >> well, sure. there's lots of ways to do it, and it's quite natural and normal. he could easily go to the cia, talk to people there, bget a god briefing. remember, the intelligence behind this was the entire

intelligence community came behind the assessment that the russians attacked us in 2016. so i don't think this is a problem at all. there's no reason to have made this public. there's no reason to suggest that he needs a big weapon to find out what happened. he simply can come on over and talk to people there. >> what's interesting is senate judiciary chair lindsay graham made quite an interesting comparison this morning on fox news sunday. let's listen to what he said. >> nobody doubted my trust or my ability to be fair when i supported mueller. the people who are worried about this are worried about being exposed for taking the law in their own hands. it doesn't surprise me that the people we're looking at, they don't want transparency. we're not compromising national security here. we're trying to create a system to make sure this never happens again. >> okay. so the person connecting this investigation is bill barr. is it possible he'll conduct a fair one? >> i don't know bill barr, and i certainly hope that he's not going to do something that's, you know, way out of bounds, but we have seen this game before.

it's an ugly game. you look to personalize and find a boogie man you can attack. we saw it with the fbi with pet you know, i certainly worry about people trying to come over to the cia and find people somewhere in the bureaucracy that they can blame of use as some sort of scapegoat. that's quite dangerous. many of those people are under cover, frankly. >> i'm curious what you think of the merits of this investigation, john. does any of this, from what is publicly known, warrant an investigation? >> absolutely not. the beginnings of the case, the counterintelligence case, is written clearly in the mueller report. what the russians did is quite clear too. the europeans have seen the same thing. there's been intelligence to that effect. there's indictments, and it's clear in the first hundred and whatever pages of the mueller

report what the russians were up to. nonetheless, they're looking to, you know, find these personalities they can use as sort of scapegoats and people to blame. you know, for example, president trump tried to say that he was wiretapped by obama when it was proven to be untrue. he continues to say it. when the mueller report came out, he said that it exonerated him and there's no collusion. of course, when you read the mueller report, that's not true. but he continues to say it. what i fear here is they're going to go in, look for stuff, they're not going to find anything because there's nothing there, but they're going to continue to say it and try to tell people that there's horrible actors, you know, obama people somehow messing with the trump campaign, and there's nothing further from the truth. i spent my career in cia. there was nobody looking to undercut people running for president or anything of the sort. >> i know you were quoted in "the new york times," john, and you said that the heads of the country's top intelligence agencies should stand their ground, stick up for individual officers who have been singled

out by the president. quote, what the leadership should do is say, i'm vouching for the information. if there's a problem, the problem is with me. why is this so important to you? >> you know, any leader has to maintain the credibility with their work force. they need to protect the people they work for. they need to protect the process and be confident it's done professionally and in a proper way. i'm sure gina haspell and director coats are well aware of how the intelligence came through, well aware of the professionalism of their officers. they have to vouch and support them. they can't allow people to cherry pick people lower in the bureaucracy to attack for partisan purposes. it really does damage to our system. >> okay. john, always good to talk with you. come see me again. thank you. it's sort of a legal time-out if the fight for president trump's bank records, but don't think the house is giving up. so why the delay? i'm going to speak with one of the leading voices of the house intelligence committee, congressman denny heck, in just a bit. man denny heck, in just

a bit. (kickstart my heart by motley crue)) (truck honks) (wheels screeching) (clapping) (sound of can hitting bag and bowl) (clapping) always there in crunch time.

there he goes again. president trump siding with a dictator. why john bolton and joe biden probably won't like it one bit. an unforgettable moment in the land of rising sun. the optics and implications of trump's sumo trophy handoff. was that a good look? we will not overreach. we will not overinvestigate. >> you only get one shot at this. i want to make sure we get it right. >> plus, the growing democratic

debate over impeachment. why it could slow and steady be that way versus now or never. good day, everyone. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." we're beginning in tokyo. it is the second day of the president's state visit to japan, a day of golfing, cheeseburger dining, sumo matches as well, where the president presented the winner with a special u.s.-made trophy, all part of an apparent diplomatic effort by prime minister shinzo abe amid some high-stakes trade talks. nbc's kristen welker is there following the president for us. with another welcome to you, my friend. how much of this trip is diplomacy optics versus actual policy discussion? >> reporter: hi, alex. good to talk to you. this trip is really focused on the personal diplomacy. all of those events and those great optics that you just talked about, the fact that the president and prime minister played a round of golf, attended a sumo wrestling match, their two families had dinner.

overnight the president touting the progress that had been made on talks. but at the same time, giving everyone a reality check that it's very unlikely that the two countries are going to strike a broader bilateral trade deal. that's ultimately what they're working toward, alex. this was the president's tweet overnight. he said, great progress being made on trade negotiations with japan. alture and beef heavily in play. much will wait until after their july 1 elections, where i anticipate big numbers. the july elections, alex, are the parliamentary elections. that's a message president trump really reiterated overnight at that dinner. take a listen to what he had to say. >> thank you very much. we've had a great time, a great stay, and tomorrow is really the main event. very important event in the history of japan. it's been over 200 years since something like this has happened, so it's a great honor to be representing the united states. the prime minister and i talked a lot today about trade and

military and various other things. i think we had a very productive day. and tomorrow, likewise, will be a very productive day. i just want top thank you. that was an incredible evening at sumo. >> reporter: now, the prime minister of japan is concerned about having a potential trade war like the one that we're witnessing right now between the u.s. and china. so he does want to get a deal, but again, the reality check, alex, is that for him it's going to be very difficult for him to strike that trade deal before the parliamentary elections. now, you heard president trump talk about the big event that's going to happen on monday. he's referencing the fact that on monday, he is going to become the first world leader to meet japan's new emperor. that really aimed at underscoring the close ties between these two world allies. alex? >> interestingly, not in terms of close allies, what about the president having brought up north korea today? what is he saying? when i say not close allies, i'm talking about japan and north korea.

the president talking about north korea in the manner he did while on japanese soil. >> reporter: really a swipe to his host country, alex. there's no doubt about that. this is the tweet that you're referencing. the president writing, north korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people and others but not me. i have confidence that chairman kim will keep his promise to me and also smiled when he called swampman joe biden a low iq individual and worse. perhaps that's sending me a signal. so to the first part, alex, he's not only rebuking the prime minister of japan, who said that north korea's recent missile tests were a violation of u.n. security resolutions, but he's also rebuking his own national security adviser, who effectively sided with japan when he landed here on japanese soil. president trump making it very clear that he is not willing to criticize the north korean leader just yet. and again, he's also siding with the dictator over one of his own domestic political rivals.

so that's going to get a backlash as well back in the states. but alex, again, it's tough to see that a tweet like that wouldn't make it a little more difficult to go into those critical bilateral talks the leaders will hold tomorrow. >> it just might. the tenor might be a little thicker in the air. kristen welker in tokyo, thank you so much. the day's other big headlines developing this hour. the calls to begin impeachment proceedings is growing among democrats. while many lawmakers are saying the road is inevitable, today there are differing opinions on when they'll get there. >> this is not about the 2020 elections. it's about doing what's right now for our country. this is going to be a precedent we set when we don't hold this president accountable to the rule of law. >> the only way to proceed is make sure politics don't dictate a decision to impeach or politics don't dictate a decision not to impeach. we need to follow the facts. we need to apply the law. we need to make sure that the constitution is the guiding

principle in terms of the way forward. >> impeachment is a political act, but i'm one of those who believes we'll inevitably have an impeachment proceeding. i co-sponsored an impeachment resolution in the last congress. i'm ready to go. a lot of my colleagues are not ready to go there yet. >> senate judiciary chair lindsey graham giving house speaker nancy pelosi a warning this morning should she choose to go down that road to impeachment. >> 70% of the democratic base throughout america wants president trump impeached. she knows an impeachment would be political suicide because there's no reason to impeach the president. so she's trying to keep the party intact. if she goes down the impeachment road, republicans take back the house, we keep the senate, president trump gets re-elected. but her job is very much at risk. >> meanwhile, criticism growing this morning over attorney general bill barr being given sweeping powers to investigate the russia probe. representative eric swalwell expressing his concerns earlier about the optics of it. >> the inspector general is

already looking at that. for the president of the united states to instruct the attorney general to do that, it looks like he's using the attorney general to be his personal lawyer rather than having the stoe attorney general look at whether there are ongoing threats to our country. >> but the white house pushing back, defending both the need for the investigation and their trust in bill barr. here's what sarah sanders said on "meet the press." we already know there was an outrageous amount of corruption that took place at the fbi. they leaked information. they lied. they were specifically working, trying to take down the president, trying to hurt the president. we'll leave the final call up to the attorney general, and he'll get to the bottom of it, but we think americans deserve the truth. >> joining me now, washington correspondent for the san francisco chronicle and john nichols, national affairs correspondent for the nation. big welcome to you both. i want to start first with the president's visit to japan. what's your assessment of this trip so far? >> i mean, we haven't got an ton

out of this trip so far other than what kristen was summarizing earlier, which is a lot of photo ops. keep in mind when you're talking about president trump and the way he handles international relations, in many ways, those sort of personal relationships are really how he sees the job. so his relationship with the prime minister of japan, their ability to golf together, is actually a huge part of that sort of international diplomacy and negotiations. and even the tweets about the north korean dictator, kim jong-un, it's actually kind of similar. president trump has this sort of belief that if he can connect with world leaders on a personal level, he can get done things that his predecessors haven't been able to do. so part of what you see is him sort of unwilling to criticize some of these dictators because he sort of seems to still hold on to this belief that if he butters them up and builds a good relationship with them, that perhaps they can come to some sort of deal. so you see him sort of pursuing both of those at the same time

while in japan, which of course is extremely concerned about the aggression coming out of north korea. but he still kind of tries to keep up this personal international diplomacy. >> let's bring up that tweet right now that tal just mentioned. john, i want to go through it further with you. the president manages to contradict his national security adviser, bash former vice president joe biden, and really potentially unnerve his host by siding with north korea. what do you make of all that? >> i think the president's trip to japan is a very strong indication of how out of touch he is with the region he's visiting. and he likes to think he knows a lot about it. i understand that. but there's a couple things in play here that are really important. this effort to reach a bilateral agreement of some kind with the japanese is incredibly vital for a great many american interests. yet, by stirring up the north korea side of this and by

seeming to side with the north koreans to say the japanese, in some sense, don't really know what's going on in their own region, he creates a situation where they have to look a little bit more to china. and this is the sort of unspoken reality here. the united states has something of a trade war that is developed with china. japan is in the middle of this circumstance and will always be looking for what is in the best interest of japan. that's appropriate. the president's tweet was, to my mind, a very bad signal at this point. and if i can just add one final thing, in the initial tweet, i believe he misspelled vice president biden's name. >> he did, yeah. >> and i understand that we make mistakes in tweets. i'm not going to be too extreme on this, but frankly, when you are the president of the united states and you are casually mingling domestic politics with

major statements about the development of potential nuclear weapons, about trade wars, and things like that, i just don't think that that's a serious approach to the circumstance he's in. >> well, you think he knows about the millions and millions of followers he has. that's where he often puts out his positions on diplomacy and other things. so you'd think he'd be more careful. but speaking of tweets, tal, separately, the president put out this one. numerous japanese officials told me that the democrats would rather see the united states fail than see me or the republican party succeed. death wish. how unusual is this? what is the message he's trying to send there? is he trying to suggest that foreign diplomats are going to have to look at the united states in a very partisan way now and only want to align themselves with one party or another? >> it's hard to put into sort of a reasonable explanation what was going on in that tweet. the notion that foreign diplomats would be sort of quietly commenting to the president about, you know, the

internal partisan politics of the u.s. outside of simply trying to sort of flatter him and butter him up in a very obvious way, it sort of defies logic. that's just not how international diplomacy works. keep in mind this didn't used to be a partisan thing. there was a notion that when, you know, a sitting u.s. elected official went abroad, you leave politics back in the united states. when you are international, you present a united front on behalf of america toward the rest of the world. and you leave the sort of partisan squabbling that comes with domestic politics back with -- back at home. this president does not subscribe to that, and he sees everything he does in that sort of partisan lens. so it's certainly not surprising to see him sort of mixing this in, but i just have to imagine that if you're talking about how the international world reacts to this tweet, by now they probably sort of roll their eyes and move on. >> what about the escalating feud? i want to talk about that with

you, john. the one between the president and speaker pelosi. both sides throwing jab, questioning each other's mental state. are you surprised at all by speaker pelosi ratcheting up the rhetoric this way and trying to go toe to toe with the president? and do you think it's in the party or the public's best interest? >> well, those are two very separate questions. first off, as regards to speaker pelosi, she's in a difficult position. her caucus has moved toward a relatively high level of sympathy with the idea of impeaching the president. in fact, i would argue we're already in many senses in the early stages of an impeachment process. speaker pelosi is very cautious about that. she does not want to rush into that. by the same token, for her own caucus and her own party, she does not want to look weak in her interactions with the president. so i do think she's ramped things up. i think she's been very aggressive. now, for the country, this becomes a much more complex thing because i would focus less

on the president himself and on speaker pelosi and their back and forth and more on, you know, the back story with all this, which is that we're really in a remarkably tense moment. we have courts deciding major cases as regards the authority of the president and the authority of the congress, a real back and forth going here that of course has risen to some personal levels. if we dial down the personalities and just think about the circumstance we're in, i think it meets many of the classic standards for a constitutional crisis. so i would hope that our media will focus maybe a little less on the president and the speaker and a little more on frankly what's happening in the courts. >> okay. duly noted. john and tal, thank you so much. have a great holiday tomorrow. breaking right now, rescue and recovery teams sifting through the rubble left behind by a deadly tornado. the path of destruction is riddled with overturned cars. it has leveled homes and left behind twisted metal. el reno, oklahoma, was rattled

by that twister overnight. severe thunderstorms and torrential rains have pounded that region in recent days. there are dozens of people being treated at area hospitals, many still missing at this point. reports of at least two dead. the second floor of a hotel and nearby mobile homes were destroyed, but one survivor describes what happened when that tornado hit. >> we had debris coming down on top of us, knocked us all down and everything. there was no way we could have gotten out without help. >> you said your son actually showed up later. >> yeah, i had 2% on my phone. his name showed up. i hit the button, told him we got hit, the boys are fine, and within five minutes, he was there. >> thank heavens for that beautiful son. the national guard is also at the scene assisting in rescue and recovery efforts. let's go to nbc meteorologist janessa webb. what all led to this tornado? >> alex, the conditions were really stable. you can see from our radar right now, the cloud coverage was in

place here. so we had a severe thunderstorm warning out towards oklahoma city before this tornado really ravaged through the area. but then the clearing. this tornado is really quite different. it wasn't a squall line that moved across the area. these are downburst super cells that really just cause that spin-up. currently, oklahoma city to el reno, they're seeing clear skies. the stability is really currently in place, but the severe weather threat continues for the plains and making its way into the midwest this afternoon. so we're kind of seeing this lull in the weather pattern here, but i do expect another dry line to really form here for the plains, the southern plains as well. that's why 40 million are currently at risk for severe thunderstorms. also, those straight line wind gusts up to 60 to 70 miles per hour. that tornado that ripped through that area, we are expecting wind gusts sustained. that means a constant wind speed

of at least 130 miles per hour. still, the severe weather threat will continue into memorial day. it does live to the north here across the upper midwest, but still, 15 million under the potential for damaging winds, large hail, and that tornado threat. >> wow. having a day off is probably the last thing on most folks' mind. thank you for doing that for us. it's a deal to keep president trump's bank records secret, but how determined is the house in getting them? intelligence committee member denny heck is joining me next. r denny heck is joining me next. ♪

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if we don't impeach this president or attempt to, based on the litany of offenses that he's committed, then i think impeachment means nothing. we ought to just remove it from the constitution. >> representative john yarmuth giving me his view on impeachment earlier today. the issue taking center stage now in the democratic party as lawmakers try to determine whether now is the time to begin proceedings or at least the investigation. joining me now, washington representative denny heck. he's a member of the house intelligence committee. congressman, always good to see you, my friend. thank you for joining me on this holiday weekend. let's get into this. you know some members of your party think that now is the time for impeachment. others thinking that sticking with investigations is the route to take. where do you stand right now? >> so we're not going to be pushed into seeking impeachment of the president because it is precisely what he wants us to do, nor, alex, are we going to

oppose pursuing impeachment because it is precisely what he wants us to do. we're going to continue to investigate this in a methodical and thorough way. frankly, that's what the american people deserve. they deserve to have answers to all of these questions, most notably including the predicate, which is why is it that he was motivated to seek, encouraging and welcome the interference of the russians on his behalf. that's why you see the intelligence committee in cooperation with the financial services committee, both of which i sit on, seek to gain the documents of his bank records to see if there's something there that might help us to answer these questions. look, alex, at the end of the day, we all know this. impeachment is an incredibly divisive undertaking by congress and for the country. it's a little bit like a prosecutor, if you will. a prosecutor may know that they're going to indict someone for a crime or strongly suspect they're going to indict someone for a crime, but before they do,

they build the case. that's what i would suggest people view this through the lens of. >> okay. i want you to listen to senate judiciary chair lindsey graham's take on what's going to happen to your party if you go down the road of impeachment. here's graham earlier. >> if she goes down the impeachment road, republicans take back the house, we keep the senate, president trump gets re-elected, but her job is very much at risk. >> what do you think about that assessment? and do you feel impeachment proceedings are ultimately what the president and republicans really do want you to do? i know you gave the flip side. you had both answers of what the president wants us to do earlier. ultimately, does he benefit in any way by having the house go down this road, knowing full well that at this point the senate won't further it? >> well, i don't know, alex. the fact is i don't know the answer to that question because i don't know the answer to a lot of the other questions we're trying to get answers to. that's why i think it's so important that we do be

deliberative and methodical about this and that we have to approach it with every bit of degree of solemnness that we did when we raised our right hand and took the oath of office and pledged to uphold the constitution. that's what we're doing, seeking to exercise our article one responsibilities for oversight. >> all right. let's move to who's read the mueller report here. according to "the washington post," they're working to figure out who's done that, who's read the full redacted mueller report. the paper reaching out to all 92 members of judiciary and intelligence committees across both chambers. you have 60 lawmakers who have reportedly read the full report. three have not read the full report. four still unclear there. 25 didn't respond. but congressman, the post says you're among the three democrats who have not quite finished reading the full report. that was when that question was posed to you. where are you in that process? >> that's not entirely accurate at all. i've read the first section. remember, there are two section. the first of which deals with counterintelligence. i've not only read it, i've

reread parts of it and read it very methodically. the reason for that, obviously, that as a member of the intelligence committee, it is that first section dealing with counterintelligence that i'm most focused on. and i've read as well the second part, although not as thoroughly, i want to admit. there was some skimming involved here and there when it got into some pretty complex and convoluted legal references. the second section dealing with obstruction of justice and the ten instances in which director mueller indicated he thought the president was engaged or suggested he was engaged in potential obstruction of justice. by the way, 940, count them, former u.s. attorneys have indicated that they think the president engaged in obstruction of justice. but i'm focused principally on the first section. yes, i have read the mueller report. >> and i know you had told me about focusing on that first section before. i'm glad you're able to clear that up and let "the washington post" know specific accuracy in your answer here. let's go to the doj now offering access to a minimally redacted

version of the report to members of your committee. do you have this access? do you plan to take the justice department up on its offer? >> what we believe is that the full unredacted report ought to be made available to the intelligence committee. moreover, we believe the underlying documents need to be made available. i'll go a step further than that. we know that director mueller was engaged in additional counterintelligence investigation, some parts of which did not make it even into the first section of his report. and we think we should be able to see his -- the work product of his investigation in that regard too because it's critically important to counterintelligence investigations. lastly, we think that director mueller ought to come before the intelligence committee and help us give color to some of the meaning of what it is that he wrote in his report. >> but do you want him to do that in full display for the public, or is it okay for him to come, give an opening statement, as he's suggested he wants to do? >> kind of the question of the day, isn't it?

i think it's really before the judiciary committee that the question of full and open testimony is being debated. yes, i think he should give it in a full and open hearing because i think the american people deserve to hear the answers to his questions. that's more of a judiciary committee consideration. for the intelligence committee, it very well may be that what it is that he has to offer and provide insights on is more appropriate to a closed session because of the consideration of protecting sources and procedures of people involved in the counterintelligence investigation. but yes, at the end of the day, i think the american public would like to and deserve to hear from director mueller himself. as i said to you before, we've got the report. eventually we'll get the unredacted form. eventually, i think we'll get the underlying materials. that's like having the sheet music without ever having heard the song and only director mueller is capable of providing that. >> your colleagues in the judiciary committee are now asking don mcgahn's former chief

of staff annie donaldson to testify. her notes on how the president's attorney handled his demands are cited several times in mueller's report. so as house democrats are struggling to get mcgahn to testify, how much would donaldson's testimony hold weight? >> well, pretty considerably, in part because of the legal principle that she took notes in a contemporaneous fashion, which is to say in the moment in which the things were occurring or shortly thereafter. listen, i think don mcgahn's refusal to testify, for which there's no legal basis. he's already in effect waived executive privilege by his willingness to sit down with director mueller, which he did. so he has no legal basis for not appearing before us. in fact, executive privilege does not apply. i think his refusal to do so is one of the more, frankly, blatant exercises of potential obstruction of justice on their part and cover-up. after all, it's not just all of these alleged instances of

obstruction of justice. it is their effort to stonewall, to cover up it all that i think amounts to something. >> last question i want to get to with you. the president's lawyers reaching that agreement with your committee as well as financial services that the president's financial records from two banks will not have to be turned over now in exchange for an expedited appeal. why did your committee agree to this after getting court wins earlier this week that essentially gave the go ahead to he is those documents? >> two very big wins. we shouldn't underestimate the importance. these won't be the last two instances where we go before a court in order to compel the president to frankly agree with the rule of law. the fact of the matter is that we did that because it means that we will get the records eventually more quickly than had we not agreed to it. and they had sought to appeal and stay the production of those documents. we did it precisely because we want to see the documents as quickly as possible. we also think, frankly, that

these two legal victories, as it were, on behalf of those seeking more transparency and an opportunity to review the records are an incredible basis for the court cases that will follow and a very strong message is being sent, frankly, i think, to the administration that it is not a happy future for them if they seek to resort to litigation in order to protect themselves. the president did this throughout his career in business and often to his success, but it isn't going to work here. here what is operative is the rule of law. >> congressman denny heck, happy holidays tomorrow. thank you for joining me as always. >> thank you, alex. what sarah huckabee sanders said this morning about the attorney general getting the green light and why it is raising new questions. it is raising new questions. oh my, this heinz mayonnaise is so creamy,

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the most personal technology, is technology with the power to change your life. life. to the fullest. will he accept a result of the attorney general saying, you know what, everything was done legally and on the up and up, mr. president? will he accept that result from bill barr? >> we already know that there was an outrageous amount of corruption that took place at the fbi. they leaked information. they lied. they were specifically working, trying to take down the president, trying to hurt the president.

we'll leave the final call up to the attorney general, and he'll get to the bottom of it, but we think americans deserve the truth. >> white house press secretary sarah sanders there on the thought process behind the president giving attorney general bill barr power to declassify intelligence related to the russia investigation. let's bring in msnbc contributor adrian elrod, former senior adviser to hillary clinton's campaign, democratic strategist don calloway, and former nevada state gop chair. the gang is all here, so let's get into it. amy, i'll start with you. sarah sanders does not want to say that they have prejudged the conclusion, but isn't that what she's doing by saying they know the russia investigation was corrupt? >> i do believe that she is setting the stage, if you will. i think a yes or no answer would have been sufficient. i do believe that the president -- he's not going to have an option, really, with whatever the report outcome is that the attorney general finds,

whether there was meddling in the russia investigation or there was not at this point, he's going to have to swallow it and have to either just go with it or it's going to be embarrassing. i think in the end, it's going to favor the president. >> what do you make of this relationship between the president and his attorney general? >> alex, when bill barr went through his confirmation hearings, you could almost tell at that point that he was straddling the fine line of trying to make sure that donald trump knew he was going to be on his side no matter what but also at the same time getting through the senate confirmation process. we are now seeing the outcome of that, which is essentially that bill barr considers himself to be the chief attorney for donald trump, not the chief attorney for the united states of america. so i think sarah sanders -- i think i'm going to agree with amy. sarah sanders was not only setting the stage today but making it very clear that bill

barr is going to decide in the way that donald trump wants him to and is going to ultimately do whatever it takes to be in the -- to do the best favor to donald trump. >> don, picking up on that, does sarah san sarah sanders' implication that they'll find something to support their expectations, does that mean there are consequences on the table? could they try to put some of the president's perceived enemies behind bars? >> nothing is too small or too petty for this president. being small and being petty and vindictive is the definitive characteristic of this presidency. that's really the theory i've been workshopping, and every week i get more evidence to suggest it's true. i'm not really worried that will be the case, but i would not be surprised if that were the case. you know, there was reasonable basis to start an investigation of whether or not russia interfered in the election and secondly whether or not this president and his administration, his campaign at the time, assisted in that. there's no reasonable basis to investigate the investigator, so to speak.

if there were a reasonable basis, what does it prove? it's time for the president to worry about infrastructure, to worry about health care costs, and get something done for the american people. claim the mueller report as a victory, even if it's not. >> all right, guys. >> and alex, if i could, real quickly, i want to clarify. while i do believe that sarah huckabee sanders is setting the stage, it's not because they're coordinating for the outcome to favor the president. i just believe that they already know there's large amounts of corruption dealing with the prior administration, with the doj, fbi, and cia. >> i think, actually, that clarification is going to warrant adrienne saying she does not agree with you. >> exactly, yeah. >> another major development in washington. a new article in "the washington post" is headlined "trump's allies insist he's winning in feud with pelosi." her backers say she showed up the president. but can both sides really claim victories in how this is playing out, especially when nothing is getting done for the american

people? you heard don, amy, say he hopes the president can move forward on any number of issues, but he has said he's not going to work with the democrats. >> right. well, and he's very frustrated, just like the american public is frustrated with all of these ongoing and never ending bottomless pit of investigations. i think most people would like to finally see an outcome on things like infrastructure, like health care, but because you've got somebody like speaker pelosi, who's lobbing bombs, verbal bombs in the lap of the person she's supposed to be negotiating with minutes before the meeting, i don't think that was very wise on her part. >> okay, okay, don. i hear a big sigh. go right ahead. >> this entire week was misrepresented in terms of what happened in washington, d.c. it should be noted that the house democratic caucus under speaker pelosi's leadership has passed 200 bills. not all of them progressive, most of them pragmatic. on voting rights protections,

health care costs, pharmaceutical costs, and so on and so forth. the president made his grandstanding show this week with respect to the infrastructure meeting and then that rag tag press conference in the rose garden, which was just silliness. but the house democratic caucus has been passing bills, which is to say that they are doing what they're supposed to be doing, being on a dual track of both investigating and legislating, aka walking and chewing gum. it's up to the senate led by mitch mcconnell, and it's up to the president to really make some progress on behalf of the american people because the house democratic caucus has done their job. >> let me just end with this, the element in the feud, the videos of pelosi being circulated, which were manipulated to make her sound drunk or incoherent. your former boss hillary clinton says this proves trump is running scared bhap do you think? >> she's exactly right. hillary clinton was the victim or rather i would say the recipient of some of these tactics during the 2016 campaign and of course donald trump never misses an opportunity to throw a shot at either bill or hillary

clinton these days as well. but she's exactly right. this is what he does when he is scared. he starts, you know, stammering. he can't quite form his thoughts. he, you know, lashes out on twitter and puts up crazy videos or sends out insulting tweets. but he does not like it, first of all, when strong women go after him. he knows they're smarter. he knows nancy pelosi knows her caucus better and can control her caucus better than he can work with republicans. it bothers him. he doesn't know where her head is at right now on impeachment. i think that makes him nervous. so this is his very childish, third grade way of lashing out and trying to get back. i also want to add something, alex. any fortune 500 ceo or senior-level executive would be fired for that one tweet about that, with that video. we can't fire the president of the united states right now because he's the sitting president, but the fact that he's able to get away with that, without any sort of -- any republicans calling him out for tweeting that video, is beyond

reproach. >> all right, guys. i'm going to let that be the final word and wish you all a happy memorial day. take a break from politics for 24 hours. that's it. >> thank you, alex. >> have a good one. thank you. up next, the ring leader. president trump and his trophy moment. is this a good look for the world's most powerful leader? world's most powerful leader this is the ocean. just listen. (vo) there's so much we want to show her. we needed a car that would last long enough to see it all. (avo) subaru outback. ninety eight percent are still on the road after 10 years. come on mom, let's go! with peak season berries, uniqcreamy avocado. and a dressing fit for a goddess. come taste what a salad should be. and with panera catering, there's more to go around. panera. food as it should be.

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his state visit to japan. joining me now, retired admiral, former nato supreme allied commander and msnbc national security analyst. i guess the question is begging to be asked. how's that for diplomacy? at least for an optics perspective, you have shinzo abe and japan appear to be catering to the president exactly the way he would want to be catered to. why would they be doing that? >> they deeply, deeply value this relationship. you have to chuckle at a picture of the president getting in a sumo ring. this could be his career post presidency. you never know. i think more likely -- kind of a better optic would have been to go to a baseball game. both the japanese and the americans are crazy about baseball. we both have professional leagues. go throw out the first pitch at a baseball game. this just is unusually jarring. hey, bottom line, though, we have a strong relationship with

japan. they're trying to build on that relationship. we ought to worry more, alex, about the diversion of our two objectives in north korea right now where we see shinzo abe talking about his deep concern about these recent missile launches and president trump kind of poo-pooing pem ththem. >> abe has offered himself as a mediator between the u.s. and iran. do you see the president taking him up on that, and could abe get iran to make a phone call to the white house that the president says he's waiting for? >> i think it's highly unlikely that prime minister abe, for whom i have a lot of respect and has done some terrific things, not only for the u.s./japanese relationship, alex, but also to strengthen japanese military capability, but he doesn't cut that kind of water in tehran. however, i think we should all

want anything that avoids us heading further into tension with iran and leading toward a war in the arabian gulf. so i would be in the camp of those who would say it can't hurt, let him try. >> what about iraqi officials offering to mediate as well? sort of back channel diplomacy. does that work? >> i think that's a much more logical place to be. and if you look at the current government in iraq, it is a shia government, but it's a pluralistic society. shia, sunni, kurd. they have a lot of experience with iran. i think that's a much more logical kind of back channel to try and establish. but again, we ought to try pretty much anything that will avoid coming to blows with iran because as we've seen, tensions have been ratcheting up over the last few weeks. >> right, with the president now sending 1500 additional troops to the persian gulf. is that really ratcheting things up, or is it more symbolic? >> let's look at it this way. if you'll recall, about two

weeks ago, we heard leaks, and i think they're quite accurate, that there were options on the table for 120,000 troops or 60,000 troops, 30,000 troops. when you put that optic optic o i'll take 13 ,500 any diay. i agree with you, alex. it's symbolic and allows us better defensive measures around our missile systems. around our airfields. it's a way to stop an iranian terrorist attack on u.s. forces. it's actually a prudent move. symbolic, sensible. >> okay. admiral jay stavridis. you said so, i'll believe you. happy holidays tomorrow. thanks for joining me. >> thanks, alex, thanks for all you do for the troops, memorial day, and highlighting their sacrifices. >> we do what we >> we do what we right back right back at you. thank you so much. making history. how the country's first legislature with more women than

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making history, the women make up the majority of the state legislature, the first time this has ever happened in this country.

joining me now, teresa bonitas thompson, assemblywoman and majority floor leader. with a welcome to you, an apology, this is going to be a lot faster than i thought it was going to be. unfortunately we've gone over in the time of the show. we'll have to have you back. statistically, you have assemblywomen, ten men -- pardon me, 11 men, 10 women in the state senate. 18 men, 23 women in the assembly. overall, overall, 52% women. the post says nevada is ranked fourth in the world for the highest proportion of women fourth legislators. fourth in the world. how has this changed the equation for the types of bills being taken up there? >> we're doing great things here in nevada, and what you see is that we not only got elected, but we have the majority of the chairmanships in both the senate and the assembly. both chambers. we're running things. we got good legislation coming from health care, to renewable energy, to business, and we've got great we've got great things happening in nevada. i'm proud of us. i'm proud of the women i've been elected with. >> and how about republicans and democrats, females working together, how's that going?

>> we get along fine. we get along just great. vy i have a lot of questions about whether or not there's cat fighting or we support each the other. the truth is we all have each other's backs. we realize this is a special moment not only for nevada but for the united states. and so we -- we get along just fine and support each other very >> i'm well. >> i'm glad to hear that. i know you got an assist from political action groups, also women's rights organizations. they've been doing training for women to be leaders. but there's one assembly woman, selena torres, i know you mentored here specific icalally. she said she was inspired to run for office when she heard donald trump saying awful things a s a have immigrants. have you seen a donald trump effect inspiring others? >> i think you've seen -- what you've seen is that the women in nevada are responding. we're not going to be told what do with our bodies. we're not going to be told what to do with our pocketbooks, not going to be told what to do aclose ta cross the board. we're going to put ourselves in a position of power to make change and exactly what we've done here in nevada. >> i'm going to have you back,

teresa benitez-thompson to talk more. i apologize for i apologize for the brevity of this conversation this time. thank you. >> nice to meet you. >> you, too. the earl i y expectations f the first democratic debates. that's coming up. i would not want to pay that insurance bill. [ ding ] -oh, i have progressive, so i just bundled everything with my home insurance. saved me a ton of money. -love you, gary! -you don't have to buzz in. it's not a question, gary. on march 1, 1810 -- [ ding ] -frédéric chopin. -collapsing in 226 -- [ ding ] -the colossus of rhodes. -[ sighs ] louise dustmann -- [ ding ] -brahms' "lullaby," or "wiegenlied." -when will it end? [ ding ] -not today, ron.

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