his preoccupation with biden continuing as he condemns the obama administration's horrible iran deal, and contradicting his host and own national security adviser. all with the i word on his mind. president trump firing off a series of blistering tweets this morning accusing the democrats of obsessing over impeachment, and the power of one, one fierce reaction is growing after a $19 billion disaster relief bill which was expected to pass unanimously, blocked by a lone republican congressman. the battle is far from over. i want to go to chief white house correspondent hallie jackson in tokyo where president trump has been attending a state banquet with the japanese prime minister, so president trump and prime minister abe are on the same page with a lot of issues but this notable exception, north korea came to the floor over the last several hours. tell us how that is playing out

today. >> reporter: that is for sure, and just to note, the president is leaving the state banquet you referenced. he and the first lady walking out moments ago. we expect them to head back to the hotel. they'll be asleep for the night, just as back home, folks are waking up and waking up to the news you're referencing, chris, related to north korea. president trump asked very specifically about north korea's recent missile tests, down playing them essentially brushing them off, saying they don't matter to him which stands in direct contradiction of what we heard from his host, prime minister shinzo abe. the japanese prime minister says he believes those missile tests do violate un security council resolutions and it's not just abe, the president's own top aide, national security adviser, john bolton has publicly said the same thing in the last 48 hours or so here in japan while telling reporters that was the case. president trump saying, hey, listen and i'm paraphrasing here, he's saying some of my

aides think it does violate the resolutions. i think it doesn't matter, the president hypothesizing that perhaps kim was trying to get his attention. here's what the president had to say. >> my people think it could have been a violation as you know. i view it differently. i view it as a man perhaps he wants to get attention. and perhaps not. who knows. it doesn't matter. >> reporter: there's still the open question of course of how the president expects kim as he says he does to continue to move toward denuclearization when kim so far has not kept any of the promises he has made to president trump, at least on the denuclearization front. that said, the president still is holding out hope for some kind of a deal with north korea. i have to say, chris, even though this issue of the missile test is something that is a wedge, that is a difference between president trump and shinzo abe. prime minister abe went out of his way to in effect compliment

president trump on the work thattethat he's done with north korea so far, calling it a new kind of strategy, one that perhaps should be emulated. prime minister abe reiterating here in tokyo that he is looking for an unconditional face-to-face with kim jong un himself. that is something that has not happened yet. kim has not been warm to that, if you will, but it would be sort of an interesting development if that were to happen, chris. >> hallie jackson in tokyo for us. thank you so much. ef lhard to know where to b but i think the critical thing here evelyn is the significance of missile tests. you heard just now what the president had to say, he doesn't see it so much as a violation but maybe, you know, he just wants to get some attention. let's start with the basics. is this a violation of un resolution? kwh what are the implications of the president siding with kim and against his own national

security adviser and his host today. >> right. so chris, it absolutely is a violation of the un security council resolutions that prohibit north korea from conducting any ballistic missile tests. it doesn't matter what the distance is. so you can't down play it, and you know, the president can't have it both ways. he oftentimes wants to rely on un and international pressure, maximum pressure on north korea and iran. you know, if the turns around ad belittles un security resolutions in this context, hoo he's going to have a harder time. the second thing is, yes, kim jong un is trying to get attention, he's trying to get the united states back to the negotiating table because he wants to get out from under all of the sanctions and hemen want deal that doesn't require complete elimination of his nuke weapons. we're at a diplomatic impasse and the north koreans are saying, hey, time is running out, let's get back to the negotiating table. >> if we are back to the

negotiating table, it does seem that president trump thinks if i have kind words, it gives me leverage. we developed this close one-to-one relationship. have you seen any indication in the last 2 1/2 years that that approach has worked for the president? >> no, because here's the thing it's always good to have a good relationship with your negotiating partner, one of respect, one where you can communicate, and they're not going to be closing their ears to your arguments but you have to have a strategy. you have to have a plan. and from what i can tell, they have not articulated, they being the administration from the president on down have not articulated a clear strategy for how they get north korea to freeze and/or denuclearize. so that strategy needs to underpin whatever it is the president does. in the beginning, it seemed like maybe they had one. they were doing the maximum pressure, the economic pressure, the sanctions and that was a way to get them to the negotiating table but they eased up on that after the summit, both summits actually, and the president, in

fact, reversed a recent sanction decision by the treasury department, if you recall a couple of months ago. so it's the opposite of what they're doing with iran, which is a whole other separate issue. if you want to put pressure on them, they're not doing it in the north korea context. >> we often talk about how different this president's approach is. we have always seen presidents who go to a foreign country. that's where they want to keep the focus. this president, frankly, is always talking about how other countries need to be paying more on any number of levels. here he is in japan, which pays an awful lot of money to base u.s. troops there, but his mind and his tweets are often elsewhere. >> and that's another thing, chris. i mean, it's so unseemly. this visit is a solemn occasion. he's marking the ascension of a new emperor to the throne and the fact that they invited the american president. president trump understands it's a big deal. he's down playing it, almost

taking away from the solemnity of the occasion by these ridiculous tweets. that's one issue. the other is, as you mentioned, japanese are putting their money where their mouth is. they provide the greatest amount of support to u.s. bases, to u.s. military of all of our allies and they are now basically creating two carriers so two ships they have retrofitted so that they can accommodate usf 35s. that's actually really significant. the japanese are saying we're not free riders here, we're going to contribute. like i said, they're putting their money where their mouth is. >> meantime, the president has also been tweeting. he the tweet storm about domestic issues, and i want to play more about what he said about kim jong un insulting joe biden. take a listen. >> does it give you pause at all to be appearing to side with a brutal dictator, instead of a fellow american, the former vice

president, joe biden. >> well, kim jong un made a statement that joe biden is a low iq individual. he probably is based on his record. i think i agree with him on that. >> and new york magazine kind of analyzes it this way. now that trump has celebrated the attack as a successful diplomatic treaty, other foreign regimes could try to flatter trump by insulting democratic presidential candidates too. do you agree? >> right. chris, that is also obviously it's over an interference in our politics but it's something that we try not to do, for example, let's say if prime minister abe were running for reelection, we, the united states, would try not to interfere in japanese elections. we don't want other countries int interfering by insulting candidates or how the russians did it with social media hacking and disseminating information, et. i think it's very bad that he's encouraging other countries to

involve themselves in u.s. domestic plit a domestic politics. and he's taking the side of this brutal dictator, kim jong un, he doesn't need to go that far. >> finally, as someone who worked closely with the military for years, i want to get your thoughts on what kind of future our u.s. soldiers are facing. vice president pence just told west point graduates that it's quote a virtual certainty they will be fighting at some point in their lives. >> first of all, yeah, it's great that you asked that question, because it is memorial day and we really need to be thankful for everything the men and women of our armed forces do to keep us safe, defend democracy for america, and also to defend our interests overseas. i don't know whether it's a certainty they're going to be fighting in their lifetimes. i do feel that the world has become more dangerous because of the attacks on international institutions, and basically this lack of leadership on the international front and leaders like president trump who are taking our international system

for granted and again, attacking it at times. so it is more dangerous, i think, for the military. the more protectionism, the rabid nationalism we have, the worst it is for international security. evelyn, it's always good to see you. thank you for taking time out. as results are coming in from the european elections, already we have seen surprising outcomes, losses for centrist parties and strong showings for parties on the left and right, and punctuating the importance of the election, the highest turnout in 20 years. nbc's foreign correspondent sarah harmon is watching it all from london. get us up to date, what is happening over there. >> reporter: you raise a really interesting point. that vote turnout, it actually cracked 50% for the first time in a quarter century, and that in and of itself suggests europeans see a renews relevance

for the eu which is key at a time when one of the block's biggest members is negotiating its exit. europeans clearly felt like there was a lot at stake in this election. looking at the results, there are two big take aways, europe if he is political center is crumbling, kind of similar to what we have seen in the u.s. in recent years. european voters are fed up with the establishment. the results are showing traditional centrist parties are being edged out by what were considered fringe parties, populists, environmentalists and the other trend we're seeing is a bit of a green wave, the green environmentalist parties had their strongest ever showing in european parliamentary elections. some are calling from the greta tuneberg effect after the swedish woman leading the climate change protests. the nationalist party were modest, more modest than predicted. going forward, there's plenty to watch. negotiations begin for some of the eu's top jobs and with a

parliament that's this fragmented, it's going to be a bit like "game of thrones" because they're going to have to form some alliances. >> sarah harmon with the all important "game of thrones" reference. thank you so much. appreciate it. now to congress where a bipartisan disaster relief bill appeared to be the one thing a divided congress could agree on until the objection of one single man sank the whole thing. that man, texas republican congressman chip roy. abby livingston is the perfect person to talk about this, the washington bureau chief for the texas tribune. help people from outside of texas understand it. why did he do this? >> fifrst of all, this was a log delayed piece of legislation that the president was against for several issues. congressional negotiators broke through with him and it sailed through the senate. the u.s. house was headed home for the memorial day recess, so

there was some hope on friday that it could pass through the chamber without the members there through a parliamentary procedure called unanimous consent. it could go through as long as there were no objections and there was some thought maybe somebody would show up and do it. nobody in texas expected it would be a texan, and it was chip roy, an accolade of ted cruz and his chief of staff during the 2013 shut down. >> explain to us, if you can, why no one thought a texan would do this, and what does this mean for the future of the bill and all the folks waiting for relief? >> mr. roy is a freshman. he was elected in november. prior to that, thanks to hurricane harvey, republicans and democrats in the texas delegation have gone to great lengths to support other states with relief and present a bipartisan image and the idea is if texas gets hit again, they're going to have political capital elsewhere in the country. me came out against it.

he was against the fact it was passing in this way. he didn't think it was right for $19 billion to go through. this was one person's complaint and there will probably be several other republicans fall in line. all it did was delay this until a week from tonight. hurricane season starts on saturday. >> and we know what that means. thank you so much. appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. obsessing over impeachment. president trump opens a new line of attacks against democrats this morning. she's one of the best known former members of the trump administration and a key player in the mueller report. hope hicks will she testify before house democrats or defy their subpoena. y before house democrats or defy eir subpoena nothing says summer like a beach trip,

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7,000 miles away from washington and president trump still can't get impeachment off his mind. just an hour before the president and first lady arrived to dine with shinzo abe. he fired up a tweet storm. among the string of attacks, he responded to congresswoman's rashida tlaib's calls. writing, impeach for what, having created perhaps the greatest economy in our country's history, rebuilding our military, taking care of our vets, judges, best jobs numbers ever and much more. democrats are obstructionists. joining me now is jim kessler, cofounder of the centrist think

tank skp , and michael steele. you have president trump throwing around the impeachment word like it's every day vocabulary. speaker pelosi treads carefully around the world like maybe it's cursed. isn't that the exact opposite of what you would expect and where does that leave us? >> yeah, so look, there's people in both parties talking about impeachment, nancy pelosi doesn't want to see this happen. i think she feels and accurately so that impeachment helps donald trump. it doesn't hurt donald trump, and it probably helps republicans in the midterms so, you know, you've got donald trump trying to goad democrats into impeachment that he thinks will help him politically and help him in 2020. >> yesterday, democrats who want to start impeachment or at least an inquiry immediately are in contrast to those pumping the brakes. they all made their cases on the sunday shows. i want to play a little bit of

it. >> this is not about the 2020 election, 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 and united states constitution. >> we need to follow the facts, apply the law. we need to make sure the constitution is the guiding principle in terms of the way forward. democrats can sing and dance at the same time just like beyonce, we have it keep our focus primarily on our for the people agenda. >> sing and dance like beyonce but i wonder, do you think the political calculus is different as you see it than the constitutional one. does the constitution call for impeachment proceedings to protect the rule of law here while holding off essentially follows the people who say don't impeach. democrats looking at what the polls say and stepping back a bit? >> learned the lessons of 1998, i think they were an unsuccessful impeachment effort,

an impeachment effort that doesn't lead to removal is inherently unpopular. you think that's not necessarily the case. the circumstances of the clinton impeachment were very specific while the details were revolting, they were fundamentally about lying about a consensual relationship, an inappropriate one but apparently a consensual one. this is a very different thing, and i think that the president believes impeachment would be unpopular, would lead ultimately to his vindication or a failure to convict by the senate. that's a dangerous gamble. hour after hour of live televised testimony might begin to damage his support among those core supporters that have never abandoned him, and i think that he still has to get big things done with this democratic congress before the end of the year, and an impeachment inquiry would make that nearly impossible. >> "the washington post" in a column makes an interesting comparison. during the water gate scandal, public support for impeachment

trailed events, before the televised water gate hearings began in may 1973, fewer than one-third of americans thought the break-in was a scandal, after the hearings, 53%, and 71% thought nixon culpable. even then, it wasn't until the month nixon resigned that a majority of the public supported his removal from office. jim, if that's the case, people say why are democrats skittish about impeachment hearings. sometimes you need to lead rather than follow what the polls say. what's your interpretation of that? >> i read the mueller report, the starr report and tapes. >> unlike some members of congress. >> i'm one of seven people. the mueller report is a much more serious transgression, and it's a much more polarized

environment, and ultimately impeachment is a political act and you have -- the number one priority is making sure donald trump is not president in 2021 a and the calculation has to be, does this help donald trump or hurt donald trump, that's the calculation that nancy pelosi has to make, and democrats have to make. trump believes it's going to help him, and i think he's probably right. >> when you talk about the polarization, lindsey graham said that the president and a lot of supporters believe impeachment isn't about the constitution. it's the democrats trying to destroy not just the president but his family. how personal has this gotten in your mind and is it more so than we have seen in the past? >> sure. i think that in the past, the president's family was largely off limits from political attack. i think trump is different in this regard, because his family is so intertwined with his businesses before assuming the president and his conduct in the

office. it's a totally different situation. his son donald jr. working in the campaign. if you do the right thing for the right reasons, good things happen, if you're a democrat and believe the president has committed impeachable offenses, then not moving for political reasons is a morally bankrupt decision. see the facts, lay them out for the american people, let the chips fall where they may. >> michael steele, jim kessler, thank you so much. happy memorial day. >> you too. get ready for what could be a battle between house democrats and a former trump staffer they want to testify. former communications director hope hicks and one of the president's closest advisers, remains a somewhat elusive figure in her post white house time but her name does come up on 28 pages of the mueller report and she is under subpoena by the house judiciary committee. remember, however, the white house has put the ka bash on

testimony from legal counsel don mcgahn. she has not said whether she will provide documents under a june 4th headline. joining me now is former u.s. attorney and an attorney that represented three white house employees during the clinton investigation. joyce, the "the new york times" took heat for its coverage of hicks' subpoena, a glam shot of hicks and a headline that says she has to decide whether to talk to congress. a subpoena used to mean you didn't get to decide, you show up. has the white house already managed to change the definition of a congressional subpoena? where are we at here? >> this white house seems really intent on killing the last vestages of the rule of law. that's the issue congress will face with the subpoena they have issued for hope hicks. subpoenas aren't voluntary, you don't get to make a decision

about whether you want to show up or not. if there are concerns about the subpoena, there's a legal mechanism. you can file a motion to quash, assert immunity, but you don't get to sit in your apartment and ponder whether or not you'll comply with the subpoena. the real problem here, though, whether or not congress will stand its ground and enforce the subpoena, taking steps to ensure hi hicks' appearance. >> she was in the room for an awful lot of action. that includes the moment president trump learned of the special counsel's appointment, quote, she described the president as being extremely upset. she had only seen the president like that one other time when the access hollywood tape came out during the campaign. so jeff, how critical do you consider her testimony and does she have a legit argument to try to get out of it? >> well, it's definitely critical because she was aware of the e-mails where she said kushner was upset about them. she was aware of the president's

reaction in number of situations. she was there for the alleged cover up of those e-mails involving the trump tower meeting. and she could certainly lend information to the house and their impeachment inquiry. however, if she does not appear, then the house has to move to compel. barr backed down from that actually in a meeting, excuse me, after a meeting, they greed to some sort of appearance by barr or a limited action, and the house will have to be aggressive in terms of enforcement. this is a consistent pattern you're seeing from the white house and having witnesses not appear, which leads to delay, we believe it will lead to delay after the 2020 election. >> jeff, joyce vance, thanks to both of you. my next guest has a startling warning about the dangers of being too practical, to moderate when it comes to

2020 and climate change. elizabeth warren's popularity is gaining in the polls nationally with her sharp focus on policy but will it pay off in the crucial early state of iowa. we'll take you there live. of iowa. we'll take you there live. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ applebee's new loaded fajitas. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. why go with anybody else? we know their rates are good, we know that they're

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no holiday weekend for 2020 contenders, they're raising money, plotting strategy with the critical debate now just a month away, and of course out on the campaign trail. bernie sanders has been stumping in new hampshire, pete buttigieg is home in indiana while cory booker and elizabeth warren are spending memorial day in iowa. as warren continues to brand herself as the policy candidate, is it working with voters in the hawk eye state? nbc road warrior ali vitali has been on the road, and she joins us now. what do voters there have to say about warren and the fact that she is running clearly this policy driven campaign. >> reporter: it's clearly syncin sinking in, and iowa is a state elizabeth warren is banking on. she has over 50 staffers on the ground already. that's way more than most competitors, though everyone is playing the game in iowa.

when she talks about i have a plan for that, voters seem to be picking that up and they care. look at what they told me over the last three days in the hawk eye state. >> she's the plan girl right now, isn't she? she really has specifics, plans on almost everything, and i like her record. she has, you know, a voting record and policy record that's long and pretty specific and that's what i like about her. >> i want someone who knows how to solve problems and who knows how to work with people, who has a record of accomplishment, but we have a lot of those people that, you know, fill that bill. it's going to be very hard. >> do you think there's a downside to her being known as like the policy candidate in the field? >> i think it's a plus. i think that's exactly what we need is someone who's intelligent and knows the policy and can come up with a policy that will work. >> reporter: and later in that conversation that last voter that we heard from drew the comparison with president donald

trump, which it's important to note that that's eventually who these candidates will go up against. it provides a stark contrast when you consider that democrats are parsing through their field by talking about policy but when they go against donald trump, he's not someone who leans in heavily at all on the policy front. it's going to be interesting to watch, once we hit a general election well over a year from now how that plays out. voters want to fill in the policy specifics as they figure out who they're going to vote for in 2020. >> fascinating stuff. elizabeth warren is one of the bolder candidates, a plan to end fossil fuel production on public lands. joe biden expected to unveil his climate change plan soon but except for backing the paris climate accord there is little consensus among the candidates about what to do about climate change. many of them don't have a stated policy at all. there's a lot of pressure coming from the progressive wing from the party, and new york magazine, erik lovitz warns,

moderate democrats delusions of prudence will kill us all. associated editor of new york magazine, erik lovitz joins me now. it is must reading for me. so talk to me about this whole idea of being too prudent and how you think it applies to 2020 in particular and climate change. >> yeah, well, so there's on one level, the prudence in terms of policy and not recognizing the scale of change that we need on the time line that we need it. biden trying to find this middle ground that will show simultaneously please fossil fuel interests and aoc's base but there's also on a different level a theory of change issue. right now what we're dealing with is we have an eke locologi crisis. it was 84 degrees in the arctic circle. it was partly cloudy with a high of 84 in the arctic circle. the arctic circle contains

permafrost which has gig tons of methane and carbon dioxide, one of the tipping points is if temperatures, the perma frost goes up in the air and everything accelerates, and right now the un expects that we're actually on track for three to five degree warming in the arctic circle. we have an urgency here. now, the other problem that we have is that the most powerful political party in the united states right now is the republican party which is the only major party in the western world which doesn't recognize climate change as a serious threat. they treat as something as an after thought and chinese hoax. if you're the democratic party, you need to take into account the republicans haven't going to have to a come to climate moment, and you're going to have to do this yourself, and you're going to have to embrace potentially radical parliamentary and procedural tactics if you get control of the government again. >> part of what we're seeing

here, you point out that republicans rightly oppose the paris climate accords so you have an administration that has been systematically point by point, getting rid of many of the environmental forward policies of the obama administration, so not only are we looking at the very reality of climate change but we're looking at potentially, even if a democrat is elected, their first order of business may be to take some time just to get us back to where we were before donald trump became president. >> correct and not just reestablishing rules but rebuilding bureaucracies, the trump administration has been vandalizing the administrative state, alienating lifetime civil servants who have been quitting and taking institutional knowledge with them. >> i recommend your article to people nymag.com is where they can find it. thank you for coming in on a holiday. >> thank you. pete buttigieg ripping president trump for possible pardons of war criminals. r posse pardons of war criminals this is the story of john smith.

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high protein. low sugar. tastes great! high protein. low sugar. so good! high protein. low sugar. mmmm, birthday cake! pure protein. the best combination for every fitness routine. on this memorial day, we honor the thousands of u.s. military men and women around the world and the more than a million who have given their lives in war. on saturday, vice president pence told the latest class at west point, there's no question more conflict is ahead. >> it is a virtual certainty that you will fight on a battlefield for america at some point in your life.

you will lead soldiers in combat. it will happen. and when that day comes, i know you will move to the sound of the guns and do your duty and you will fight and you will win. >> i'm joined by congressional medal of honor recipient retired army colonel jack jacobs, always good to see you my friend. >> good morning. >> i'm interested to hear your reaction of what we just heard from the vice president against the backdrop of the news we got on friday that 1,500 more troops will be headed to the middle east, the president saying they will be mostly protective. give us your sense of where we are right now? >> well, we're fighting still. in the context of the current political climate, it does sound a bit excessive, but i recall in 1976 when i was teaching at west point and i told the cadets who were first classmen about ready

to graduate, we're bemoaning the fact that the war in vietnam was over and that they wouldn't be able to fight. they wouldn't be able to put to work all the things that they had learned, defend the country, because the war was over, and i told them it's unlikely that you will not be fighting and sure enough, they were in a very short period of time. so i think it's accurate. it's just in the context of the political climate today, it does sound a bit excessive. >> also on friday, the white house sent requests to the justice department to prepare pardons for a number of service members who are either accused of or convicted of war crimes and pete buttigieg responded to this very quickly and others criticized it as undermining the legitimacy of military law. what do you think? >> i'm opposed to pardons generally. you know, it derives from the devine right of kings. it's an irony that it's in our constitution, was the result of an insistence on the part of

alexander hamilton who likes strong central government and it doesn't fit very well with the constitution. it was put in there so that there would be -- the president would be able to stabilize the government after a crisis, but it has been used since then by and large to pardon people who shouldn't be pardoned. it's been used as a political tool and quite frankly, i'm opposed to it in any form and i'm certainly opposed to the use of the pardon for people who have been convicted of crimes like this. it perverts the course of justice and i'm opposed to it. >> i want to switch to something a little less serious or might be for some people more serious, a story people may have missed. it was in the "new york times" and it's the pentagon admitting it investigates ufos. i'm looking at the article now. it talks about a pilot seeing a whitish oval object, described as a giant tic tac about the

size of a commercial plane in late 2014, a super hornet pilot had a near collision with one of the objects and an official mishap report was filed, and they have video tape apparently taken by a plane's camera in early 2015 showing an object zooming over the ocean waves as pilots question what they are watching. anything about this surprise you? i know you read this article. >> yeah, i'm never surprised by anything. i mean, your eyes can play tricks on you, of course. there are lots of drones out there, and the government has been testing a wide variety of vehicles that are remotely piloted but it could be an optical illusion. i remember one time when i was in the mojave desert. >> two pilots are seeing the same thing, and saying repeatedly, now i'm one of those people out there tracking, but i mean, there's a lot of different sightings by a lot of different peop

people. >> you know, no offense but never discount mass hysteria. i'm not saying it doesn't happen. but i myself have seen things that didn't make any sense and when you thought about it a little bit, it actually did make sense. it remains to be seen whether or not alien creatures have decided that they can of all places come over here! jack jacobs, thank you my friend. thank you for being my friend. thank you for your service and to all those who have sacrificed on this memorial day. >> indeed, let's remember them today. >> please. >> and up next, gerrymandering madness, we're on the campus of one north carolina university in a heavily democratic area but it has literally been divided in half. area but it has literally been divided in half if you move from this dorm to that dorm, you're in a different district with different representatives. a different district with different representatives. slather it all over, don't hold back. well, the squirrels followed me all the way out to california! and there's a very strange badger staring at me...

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if if you want to know just how baffling gerrymandering can be, look no further than north carolina ant state university. it isn't just the nation's largest historically black college, it is split into two congressional districts, thanks to partisan gerrymandering. and now students at the college want to challenge that practice in washington. joining me now is nbc's dasha

this this is insane. what happened here? >> that north carolina congressional map is now in the supreme court. and the ant story tells you why. that campus was split right down the middle, not only did that completely confuse students about where to register and where to vote, but students also say it effectively diluted the student body voice, turning big blew voting bloc into take a look. take a look. i hear i hear it is tradition for ant students to bring people here to this street. >> we're standing on a district line, a congressional district line that divides ant's campus in half. >> reporter: welcome to north carolina ant. it is the largest historically black college in the country. and a big democratic voting but bloc. but when you look at a congressional map, ant looks like two separate colleges. it is split between district six and district 13. so if you move from this dorm to that dorm, you're in a different

district, with different representatives, and a different polling polling >> >> on election day for the primaries, i walked in there and they said that i couldn't vote because i wasn't registered in the district. >> reporter: so you registered to vote on campus, but the dorm you lived in meant that you actually couldn't vote on >> campus? >> i had i had to vote on a location, off camp >> reporter: nick >> reporter: nick knight and love caesar are students here. they spent a lot of time helping other students figure out how to >> vote. >> you think about electoral process, democracy, you think about everybody having an equal but voice. but then you get on this campus, and our voices are split, >> reporter: diluted. >> reporter: have you seen people discouraged from voting because of this? >> yes, listen, not only do you get discouragement, there is also not wanting to register at >> all. >> it validates and affirms what young folks are saying when they say their votes don't count. >> reporter: that made me wonder, is it fair for a map to divide an entire student body? when it comes to elections, how do you draw a fair map?

partisan gerrymandering has become so extreme, it sparked a lot of lawsuits. this year two cases actually made it to the supreme court. one is in maryland, the other, back in north carolina. >> i propose that we draw the maps to give a partisan advantage to ten republicans and three democrats. >> reporter: meet state representative david louis. he's one of the north carolina mapmakers named to the supreme court case. everything i read on the issue mentioned this guy. so i decided to meet with him. when you redrew the maps 10-3 outcome as you predicted, but republican candidates state wide won 53% of the vote. does that math seem a little convoluted to you? >> not at all. we're a republican state, we're a red state, with heavily concentrated areas of population that vote blue. and our maps reflect that. >> reporter: is making a map with political intentions

appropriate nowadays? >> all maps are absolutely a political endeavor. everyone who draws maps or who engages in this process is going to have some kind of bias. >> reporter: so maybe should someone like you not be drawing the maps? >> so who would draw up the maps >> reporter: then? >> reporter: the supreme court is supposed to make a decision on gerrymandering before new maps are drawn in 2020. if it is ruled unconstitutional, we'll probably see more limits on using partisan politics to make maps. but what that actually means still brings us back to the original question. what is a fair map? >> an independent body actual there i drawing those maps, not looking at representative being in charge of it. >> reporter: you're saying politicians can't be trusted with this process? >> no. politicians are the ones being elected by this process. >> since we do have two cases at the supreme court level now, it does show how much of an issue it is, you know, in the american i i would hope that they would, you know, reinforce some type of

legislation around no type of >> gerrymandering. >> we talk about our vote being diluted, it is absolutely no different than the three-fifths the compromise. the young black vote does not actually have any type of impact when we're cut in half. >> and, by the way, that young student dasha answering the guy's question, so what happens what are we what are we waiting for next? >> right, so the supreme court is set to rule on this soon, but the problem is, and this is part of the reason the supreme court has punted on this in the past, is this is a process that is so entrenched in our system, so even if it is ruled unconstitutional, then what? you heard the representative say, who does draw the maps, students think it should be taken out of the hands of some politicians. some states have tried an independent commission which sort of seems to be working. i also met with a software engineer who created an there is there is an algorithm for everything nowadays, but basically he pushed a button and his computer made maps for all 50 states, only taking into account census data.

from his perspective, he says, look, this is the most unbiased process you can have, i don't know we're ready to give that power over to a computer yet. >> the acknowledgement that bias is part of this whole process is both the problem and at least the honest answer to where we are right now. dr. burns, thank you so much. coming up, an eye opening investigation into the stretch limousines popular with bridal parties and teams heading off to prom. we have got the we have got the surprising results from a results from a new crash test calling their safety into question. take align daily, you have the support of a probiotic and the gastroenterologists who developed it. wherever you go. (vo) align naturally helps to soothe your occasional digestive upsets 24/7 with a unique strain of bacteria you can't get anywhere else. (woman) you could say align puts the "pro" in probiotic. so where you go, the pro goes. (vo) go with align. the pros in digestive health.

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i'd rather not. good good i'm chris i'm chris jansing with another hour of news on this memorial and day. and while you were sleeping, the president went rogue. breaking with his national security adviser and our closest ally in the pacific about north korea's most recent >> provocations. >> not bothered at all by the small missiles. >> i'm not. i'm personally not. >> it didn't stop the president from firing off some tweets aimed at what he left behind here at home. democrat led investigations into his administration and the possibility of impeachment. our team is here with all of these stories. and all the others we'll bring you this hour. let's start with nbc's hallie jackson traveling with the president in tokyo and elena schneider, national political reporter for politico. the president is downplaying the launches, but that's not what