he has said he believes boris johnson should be the next prime minister. nigel fir aush should be negotiating on behalf of the u.k. both people not necessarily in support of theresa may, so sort of a not necessarily good thing ahead of the meeting. >> as the president often does, he courts controversy he shatters etiquette. weighing in on the successor to prime minister theresa may. the kind of things most presidents would avoid on a trip like idthis. just the other day calling one of the newest royals, meghan markle, referred to her as nasty because of some comments she made about him in 2016. we do expect the president to disembark shortly and then he has a ceremonial welcome awaiting him this morning. >> we're going to have all day coverage on msnbc and throughout morning joe as well, of course

his trip to london. there's going to be a lot of pomp and circumstance with these sorts of trips, and i'm sure you've covered these sorts of trips before with the white house. >> it's thee kind of thing he loves. >> he likes the red carpet rolled out for him. he likes the visit he's going to be making to buckingham palace and the tea with prince charles and the lunch with the queen. this is what the president enjoys the most. we saw it oversea ins saudi arabia, and the pomp and circumstance that was laid out for the president there and of course what he's going to be receiving here. and then you think about the trade y negotiations as well an the u.k.'s involvement in all of that. there's a lot of controversy surrounding this entire trip beyond the pomp and circumstance we're going to be seeing. good morning, everybody, it is monday june 3rd, i'm yasmin vossoughian along side geoff bennett. president trump has landed in the u.k. for a three-day state

visit. prior to leaving, the president previewed the trip. >> we'll be going to the u.k. i think it will be very important. it certainly will be very interesting. there's a lot going onit in the u.k., and i'm sure it's going to work out very well for them. as you know, they want to do trade with the united states, and i think there's an opportunity for a very big trade deal at some point in the near future, and we'll see how that works out. our country is doing incredibly well. our businesses are doing well. we're going to clog up the border. we're going toup stop the borde. mexico is making hundreds of billions of dollars for many, many years, and they have to do something about the border. everyone's coming through mexico including drugs, including human trafficking. >> and tonight president trump will take part in the first staten banquet being hosted fo an american president in buckingham palace. in just a couple of hours trump is set to receive a ceremonial welcome at buckingham palace which will include a greeting by

queen elizabeth and other members of thein royal family. president trump called the duchess of sussex meghan markle nasty for previous remarks she made about him. during the 2016 presidential campaign, the former actress called trumpgn misogynistic and divisive and said she would consider moving to canada if he was elected. the british newspaper the sun asked trump about the comments ahead of his official state visit to the u.k. >> she said she'd move to canada if you gotd elected, turned ou she moved to britain. >> that'd be good. there are a lot of people moving here so what can i say. i didn't know she was nasty. the president went on to say he thought it was nice that an american has married into the royal family. trump has denied calling markle nastyli including writing on sunday that the remarks were quote, made up by the fake news media and they got caught cold. the president again denied making the comment right before

leaving on his trip to meet with the royal family including markle's husband prince harry. >> are you going to apologize to the royal family or could you clarify your comments about duchess meghan markle? >> no, i made no bad comment. in a major break from diplomatic convention, president trump weighedon heavily into british politics before leaving for the u.k. including on brexit and the impending prime minister race. in interviews with the british sunday times and the sun, trump says british prime minister theresa may botched the brexit talks with the e.u. saying she left them with quote all the cards. t he also offered threefold advice saying the u.k. should sue the e.u., notng pay the $50 billion bill due to the divorce deal and should walk away from negotiations altogether if they don't get everything they want. senior adviser to the president jared kushner is speaking out in a rare interview discussing his role in the push for a middle east plan. speaking with "axios," the

president's son-in-law who hasn't held official talks with the palestinian leadership in more than a year was w pressed it. take a look. >> do you understand why the palestinians don't trust you? >> look, i'm not here to be tru trusted. >> well, you are, frankly. to look y at it from their poin of view, when you're a businessman you look at things from their view. you've got three orthodox jews on the negotiating team. you've got the actions youf taken so far moving the u.s. embassy in its route to jerusalem. you've cut all aid to the palestinians including hospitals in east jerusalem, and you've shut down the palestinian diplomatic office in washington. i mean, can you not see why they might not want to talk to you and that they might not trust you? >> there's a difference between the palestinian leadership and the palestinian people, okay? >> and you think the palestinian people will be okay with all of those things that you guys have done? >> the actions we've taken were because america's aid is not an

entitlement.ot if we make certain decisions which we're allowed to as a sovereign nation and we get criticized by that government, the response of this president is not to say let me give you more aid. again, that was as a result of decisions taken by the palestinian leadership. with regards to the palestinian people, i do believe that they want to have a better life, and i do think that they're not going to -- >> aid being cut. >> they're not going to judge anything based on trusting me or anyone else. the they're going to judge it based on the facts. >> jonathan swan will have more coming up in our next hour. >> jared kushner defended his closenessen with saudi crown prince as one between the u.s. and an ally. kushner remained tight-lipped about whether they'll hold him accountable for the murder of jamal khashoggi. >> how many conversations have

you had about the murder of jamal khashoggi? >> again, the discussions i have whether it's individual palestinians or with world leaders or with other people i keep hose discussion to myself. the people that need to know about them in our government that's related to the jobs they're doing, they know about those discussions. >> the senate has unanimously said that mohammed bin salman ordered it, the cia briefed members of the senate who voted that way. i don't know what the administration's waiting for in terms of accountability. >> i believe that there's a report that they're working on. they've been doing an investigation and when they have the facts of the investigation, then it will be up to the president to make i a determination on what he wants to do. >>o. mr. president are you willg to say that mdf is responsible for khashoggi's death? >> when did this come up again? >> are you back what four months ago? no. >> still not willing to admit it. joining us now from washington pentagon correspondent for

foreignpolicy.com, thanks so much for joining us. very prumuch appreciate it. it looks like jared kushner side stepped that question when asked by jonathan swan about his relationship withon mbs and whye continues it despite the fact that mbs has been pinpointed as the man that ordered the killing of journalist jamal khashoggi. what do you make of his defense shall i say, even though it didn't really seem to be a defense, more of a non-answer? >> well, the trump administration is in a blit of tough spot right now having just launched a kind of pressure campaign against iran recently sending an aircraft carrier and destroyers and troops to the middle east, so obviously saudi arabia is very important piece of this plan. it's also really interesting right now that kushner is talking about his relationship with mbs as the trump administration recently declared an emergency in order to bypass congress and expedite billions

of dollars worth of arms sales including precision guided missiles to various countries in the middle east including, of course, saudi arabia. so money is a big piece of this. and of course those weapons are some of theon weapons that are going to be used in the war on yemen, which is another piece in addition to the khashoggi murder that has been of interest to congress and the american public, so administration in a bit of a tight spot kind of walking a tight rope here with mbs and other countries in the middle east.he >> let's talk about president trump's state visit to the u.k. as you know this was scheduled a while ago before theresa may's brexit plan fell apart and before she announced her resignation. what do you think are theer priorities for the white house right now as we wait to see president trump step off air force one with the first lady? >> well, certainly the administration is looking to strengthen its ties with the u.k., particularly in such a difficult time for britain, obviously theresa may is about to resign and the brexit plan is

in shambles, so actually, i would say that britain probably needs trump and the administration's support right now a lot more than trump needs them. although, of course, trump will likely be looking to get more support for increasing countries commitments to building -- >> laura, stand by for us. we're just seeingby the preside and firstst lady walking off of air force one right now as they have just landed in london ahead of their three-day state visit. as we mentioned earlier, they're going to be heading to buckingham palace to meet with the queen and then also later to be having tea with prince charles as well. and this is as you said, geoff, this is very much the type of trip that the president enjoys. >> right. and foreign leaders know that and they plan these sort of things to make accommodations for the kind of, you know, pomp and circumstance the president likes. you see the president shaking there with i believe -- i was

going to say that's theresa may buts actually, it's not. we do expect the president to receive a ceremonial welcome. >> steve mnuchin there as well following them and disembarking from the plane, and so much controversy in this country right now in the u.k. ahead of this visit. i mean, we have known the president to have somewhat of a close relationship as they've both talkedla about with the pre minister theresa may. she has said that they have a close relationship. she's also said ahead of this visit this is a very important visit and a time that they need to make their relationship closer. these two countries need to make their relationships closer, but of course a very bittersweet time for the prime minister because she's going to be resigning in just a couple of days or so. as you mentioned earlier, they were not able to come to a deal on brexit. laura, weigh in for us on all of this. as you just heard geoff and i talking about, this is a very precarious time for the prime minister to say the least who's

going to be steppingth aside in just a couple of days. the president made it pretty clear, i believe on friday or so that he believes the next prime minister of the u.k. should be boris johnson. he believes nigel farage should be doing the negotiating on behalf of the u.k. when it comes to brexit. it is not necessarily a welcome or normal thing for the president of the united states to weigh in on domestic politics in the u.k. >> yes, that's definitely true, but i think of course trump is anything but a normal president, and he is certainly -- he has certainly gone out on a limb to support boris johnson and support brexit. i think for the administration, the main priority is going to be standing strongly beside our ally, britain, even in these troubling times because of course the trump administration does need britain for many of their priorities including increased nato spending, the wars in the middle east, and a

host of other issues. >> i'm wondering what we expect for the exchange to be between the president and the current prime minister ahead of her reds nation because i imagine there are going to be some words exchanged. they're not going to ignore the fact that she's going to be stepping aside, and i believe they're meeting tomorrow if i am correct on that, but they have been fairly truthful and frank with each other in the past. theresa may has made that clear about their conversations as has the thpresident. i'm wondering if he'll weigh in to her directly and privately on the state of affairs in the country. >> yes, i'm sure he'll probably have some words of advice for her, but of course britain is in a state of turmoil right now, and theresa may is stepping down, and they need a new prime minister, but i think that president trump has always been standing behind theresa may and standing behind brexit, so he's probably just going to have some

words of advice for her for how to move forward. >> we see the president and first lady getting on marine one. they're going to head to the u.s. ambassador's residence for some down time before they continue the rest of their day. laura thanks. amid a new trade standoff with mexico, president trump announces t his top economic adviser is stepping down. a planned parenthooding emergency in arkansas. in some areas flooding has reached the rooftops of homes, and they aren't expected to crest for days. we're back in a moment.th puppy school is in session. alright, alright. what's going on? my owner got a new puppy. my name is tiny. nobody cares.

chloe, why is there a lamp shade on your head? shhh. my owner might have given me a little bit of catnip. uh. [ laughing ] that's great. listen... it is great, gidget. everything is grand. [ meow ] [ purring ] [ growl ] are you finished? [ cooing ] that was weird. oh sister it's going to get way weirder. welcome back. there are new disturbing reports about the gunman in friday's deadly mass shooting in virginia beach. after working as a city engineer for 15 years, the 40-year-old shooter submitted a letter of resignation via e-mail just hours before targeting and killing 12 co-workers within the government building. in a news conference yesterday,

city officials said all he left behind was a resignation letter and a work history that gave no hint of his intentions. friday's shooting was the deadliest in the u.s. since november. armed with two 45 caliber pistol the gunman killed 12 people before being killed in a gun battle with police. as the community remembers the victims of friday's attack, hundreds gathered yesterday near the iconic neptune sculpture on virginia beach's sandy coast for an evangelical service. as president trump pushes new trade measures to punish mexico, the chairman of the white house council of economic advisers is leaving. kevin hassett who had a lead role in drafting the president's immigration proposal last month is the trump administration's latest high level departure. the president tweeting praise for has set and adding this, his very talented replacement will be named as soon as i get back to the u.s. meanwhile, acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney said the president is prepared to significantly raise

tariffs on trading goods with mexico one week from today. how seriously should we take the president's threat to raise these tariffs? is this basically a negotiating ploy to get mexico's attention or does he really mean it if mexico doesn't stop the flow of migrants across our southern border that he will start imposing these tariffs on june 10th? >> thank you for starting with such an easy question. he's deadly serious. i fully expect these tariffs to go on to at least the 5% level on june 10th. the president is deadly serious about fixing the situation at the southern border. >> the u.s. chamber of commerce is considering filing a lawsuit against the white house over the trump administration's latest round of tariffs on mexico. the organization's senior vice president of international affairs told reporters on friday that the group is quote, exploring all options inbounding legal action. the tariffs would begin at 5% and increase by 5 percentage points each month before

reaching 25% on october 1st. there's been concern from investors that tariffs can drain profits while leading to higher prices on goods. the move by the chamber reflects a widening divide between the pro-business group and the president. it's staked out ground in opposition to trump on immigration too. on saturday the president tweeted when you are the piggy bank nation that foreign countries have been robbing and deceiving for years, the word tariff is a beautiful word indeed. others must treat the united states fairly and with respect. we are no longer the fools of the past. >> and over the weekend president trump didn't back down from his threat of imposing new tariffs on mexico. yesterday morning he tweeted this, people have been saying for years that we should talk to mexico. the problem is that mexico is an abuser of the u.s., talking but never giving. it has been this way for decades. either they stop the invasion of our country by drug dealers, cartels and human traffickers, coyotes and illegal immigrants, which they can do very easily,

or our many companies and jobs that have been foolishly allowed to move south of the border will be brought back into the u.s. through taxation, tariffs in parentheses. america has had enough. still ahead, we'll show you the moment a protester storms the stage while senator kamala harris is speaking while another 2020 hopeful gets booed by a crowd of democrats. we're back in a moment. in a mot

welcome back. house speaker nancy pelosi delivered a speech to the california democratic convention over the weekend where she listed the evidence in the mueller report that suggested president trump has obstructed justice, and it drew this reaction from the crowd. >> the president's campaign welcomed russian interference in the election and the report lays out 11 instances of possible obstruction of justice by the president of the united states. i told you this is like coming home for me. >> wow. okay. so during senator kamala harris's appearance at the move on big ideas forum on saturday in san francisco, this is astounding video. a protester ran onto the stage as you see there, took her microif any and began speaking to the crowd. security quickly walked onto the stage and walked off. senator harris was also escorted off the stage but returned about

a minute later. in a statement on twitter move on wrote that we seriously refwret that a protester was able to gain access to our forum. the protester was removed and the program resumed. harris's husband douglas emhoff who helped escort the protester off stage tweeted that the couple are good after the incident. if anybody doesn't know, that was -- who was also on stage who was moderating the discussion and basically put her body in between kamala harris and the protester. i mean, i've talked to corrine, i adore here and she's incredibly smart and wonderful as so many people know on air but also obviously very courageous. >> she was the first and only line of defense until security got there moments, minutes afterwards. the california democratic convention wrapped up yesterday in san francisco in the 2020 president candidates were not the only ones sounding off about the issues. after former maryland

congressman john delaney took the stage, members of the audience booed the presidential hopeful for criticizing medicare for all. >> we need as democrats to build an economy that works but it's got to be with smart policies. medicare for all may sound good, but it's actually not good policy nor is it good politics. i'm telling you. i'm telling you. >> delaney went on to say the u.s. should have universal health care. as the booing continued, he said, quote, this is called the battle of ideas. still ahead, much more on what we can expect from president trump during his state visit to the u.k., plus, there's the new back and forth going on between the president and the mayor of london. also this morning, what acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney has to say about the administration's request to move the u.s.s. john mccain out of sight during the president's trip to japan. we're back in a moment.

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welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian along with nbc news white house correspondent geoff bennett. it's the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top stories. today marks the start of president trump's three-day state visit to the u.k. trump is scheduled to meet with british prime minister theresa may tomorrow days before her resignation takes effect on friday. in a major and controversial break from diplomatic norms the president has added his support to the former mayor of london

boris johnson without officially making an endorsement just yet. >> well, i like him. i've always liked him. i don't know that he's going to be chosen, but i think he's a very good guy, a very talented person. >> yeah. >> he's been very positive about me and our country. i know the players: i know the different players, but i think boris would do have a very good job. i think it'd be -- i think it'd be excellent. >> and president trump says of labor party leader jeremy corbin becomes prime minister, the united states may not share intelligence with the u.k. anymore. >> we're very, very good for the u.k. if you look at what we do for the u.k. in terms of many things including obviously the military. >> presumably the intelligence sharing as well. would you have some qualms about america kind of sharing stuff with the government? >> i'd have to know him. i'd have to meet him. i don't know him. but i would certainly, you know, before i would answer that question, i'd have to get to know him a little bit.

>> as president trump was departing for london last night he took a shot at that city's mayor who's been a sharp critic of the president writing an op-ed in britain's the observer titled it's unbritish to roll out the red carpet for donald trump. and he wrote this is a man who tried to exploit londoner's fierce following a horrific terror attack, amplified the tweets of a british far right racist group, denounced as fake news the robust scientific evidence warning of the dangers of climate change and is now trying to interfere shamelessly in the conservative leadership race by backing boris johnson because he believes it would allow him to gain an ally. the president responded. take a look. >> i don't think much of him. i think that he's -- he's the twin de blasio except shorter. >> and shortly before landing in london, the president sent these

tweets saying sadiq khan who has done a terrible job as mayor of london has been foolishly nasty to the visiting president of the united states, he is a stone cold loser who should focus on crime in london, not me. in a second tweet the president goes on to misspell khan's name writings he reminds me very much of our dumb and incompetent mayor of nyc de blasio. i look forward to being a great friend to the united kingdom and i'm looking very much forward to my visit. >> kahn is 5'6", 11 inches shorter than de blasio. secretary of state mike pompeo is reportedly offering a stark outlook on the potential of the trump administration's middle east plan. according to "the washington post" which obtained an audio recording of a private meeting between pompeo and jewish leaders. the secretary of state said that

quote, one might argue that the plan is unexecutable, and it might not gain traction. the post says that in the recording pompeo apparently expresses hope that the plan is not dismissed right off the bat saying this. it may be rejected, could be in the end, folks will say it's not particularly original. it doesn't particularly work for me. that is it's got two good things and nine bad things. i'm out. the paper says that pompeo goes on to ask this. the big question is can we get enough space that we can have a real conversation about how to build this out. nbc news has not revealed the audio recording. the secretary's reported remarks are the most straightforward from a trump administration official about the president's dell of the century, which the president himself has touted as not difficult to accomplish. during an interview on meet the press, mick mulvaney was asked about a recent report that

the white house requested the u.s.s. john mccain be moved out of sight during president trump's recent trip to japan. mulvaney says the request was probably made by someone object white house's advance team and that the request was not unreasonable. >> are you confident that it was nobody in the white house or white house advance person that made the request to the navy to cover up the u.s.s. john mccain? >> i absolutely believe it was probably somebody on the advance team. >> was it was on your team. is there any consequences for this? >> i'll answer your question. an advance team is hundreds of people, you know this better. you've been overseas with the president of the united states. the fact that some 23 or 24-year-old person went to that site and said oh, my goodness, there's the john mccain. we all know how the president feels, maybe that's not the best backdrop. that's not an unreasonable -- >> seriously. >> is someone going to get fired for this, no. >> joining us from washington is pentagon correspondent for

foreign policydo.com laura sellg man. the president admitted on the south lawn this request was made and someone somewhere in the administration asked for the u.s.s. john mccain to be covered up. he then said it was fake news and then over the weekend the navy admitted yes, the white house did make that request. and now you have mick mulvaney saying the request was not unreasonable. any other white house would be at the very least apologizing for what is an abuse of power, what do you make of all of this? >> this request was very unfortunate. it was -- it seems clear that it was a low level aide trying to satisfy the president, but of course it's now sparked a furor across washington, and it raises difficult questions about how the military has become politici politicized, particularly under trump with the president clashing with gold star families, bringing the military into the mission at the border, and often giving political speeches to military audiences, but the important thing here is

that the military did the right thing. the seventh fleet commander when he got the request he immediately squashed it, and in fact, the acting secretary of defense patrick shanahan who is on a trip to asia right now has told the white house now to stop politicizing the military. the unfortunate thing here for the pentagon is that shanahan's big speech in asia was overshadowed by this event, unfortunately, and that's a problem for shanahan right now as he's going into his confirmation hearing and he needed a win, and the u.s.s. john mccain debacle overshadowed that. >> let's talk about this audio from mike pompeo reportedly saying he does not have high hopes for the administration's middle east peace plan. it's interesting if you juxtapose this to some of what we have seen from the interview between jonathan swan and jared

kushner and how they could see him as a true peace broker considering where he stands with israel and his relationships with that country. where and how did president trump's deal of the century as he put it is and something that is not hard as he puts it as well, although every president has tried and failed at rectifying mideast peace, fall apart? >> well, this is really unfortunate right now for the middle east peace plan. it does seem to be falling apart like you said. i think that what went wrong is in the last couple of months the united states has taken many actions that are not looked on favorably in palestine. for instance, recognizes jerusalem as the capital of israel, recognizing israel's sovereignty over the goe lan heights. cutting funding for the palestinian authority refugees. these are all things that are not making the palestinians look

favorably on the united states and making it more difficult for them to come to the table. of course complicating all this is the tension with iran right now, which has certainly overshadowed any work that the administration is doing on the israel, palestine peace process. so this is a difficult process right now, and it's not really clear where it's going to end up. >> thanks for your great insights this morning, we appreciate. >> thanks for having me. looking at the state of the investigations into the trump administration on friday federal prosecutors reject add court ordered deadline to release the transcripts of recorded conversations between former white house national security adviser michael flynn and russia's ambassador to the u.s. in december of 2016. in a court filing on friday, the justice department wrote that it did not rely on such recordings to establish flynn's guilt to determine or determine a recommendation for sentencing. prosecutors also have failed to release an unredacted version of portions of the mueller report related to flynn that a federal

judge had ordered be made public. flynn who cooperated with the special counsel's investigation is awaiting sentencing for lying to the fbi about his conversation with russian ambassador sergey kislyak after the u.s. imposed sanctions for russian meddling in the 2016 electi election. >> prosecutors did release the full transcript of a november 2017 voice mail revealing that president trump's former lawyer, his former outside lawyer john dowd told an attorney for michael flynn to tell the trump legal team if he was sharing information that would implicate the president saying it was a matter of, quote, national security. now, in the transcript, parts of which appeared in the mueller report, dowd was unsure of flynn's cooperation with the government at the time and reminded flynn's lawyer that president trump had spoken highly of his former adviser, and it said in part, quote, i'm sympathetic, i understand your situation, but let me see if i can't state it in starker terms. it wouldn't surprise me if you've gone on to make a deal

with the government. if there's information that implicates the president then we've got a national security issue, so you know, we need to make some kinds of heads-up just for the sake of protecting all our interests if we can. >> on sunday john dowd issued a lengthy response which states in part, this is clearly a baseless political document designed to smear and damage the reputation of counsel and innocent people. during the joint defense relationship counsel for the president provided to flynn's counsel documents, advice, and encouragement to provide to the special counsel as part of his effort to cooperate. the special counsel never raised or questioned the president's counsel about these allegations despite numerous opportunities to do so. >> following the president granting attorney general william barr the power to unilaterally declassify intelligence related to the russia investigation, house intelligence committee chairman adam schiff is asking that the intelligence community tell congress if barr is overriding their objections.

schiff made his demand in a letter to the director of national intelligence dan coats on friday calling on coats to brief his committee in person and to share any information that barr has requested as part of a review of the origins of the fbi's investigation of links between russia and the trump campaign. and that's unfolding as schiff backed up speaker nancy pelosi by calling for caution as more than 50 house democrats are now backing impeachment against the president. >> i think we're going to do what's right for the country, and at this point the speaker has not reached the conclusion and i haven't either, that it's best for the country to put us through an impeachment proceeding that we know is destined for failure in the senate. now, that calculus may change if the president continues to stone wall, if the president continues to demonstrate his unfitness for office. still ahead, much more on that explosive new interview with presidential senior adviser jared kushner as he gets grilled

on whether his father-in-law is a racist. his response over president trump's involvement in the birther movement. plus, several states are under water following an unending wave of severe weather. bill karins will have the latest on when some relief may be coming their way. we're back in a moment.

jared kushner is refusing to say whether his father-in-law's involvement in pushing the birther movement against former president barack obama was racist. in his interview with "axios"'s jonathan swan the presidential senior adviser was pressed on donald trump being a vocal supporter of the conspiracy theory and lie when he was a private citizen. >> alexandria ocasio-cortez, she has called president trump a racist. have you ever seen him say or do anything that you would describe as racist or bigoted? >> so the answer is no,

absolutely not. you can't not be a racist for 69 years, then run for president and be a racist. when a lot of the democrats call the president a racist, i think they're doing a disservice to people who suffer because of real racism in this country. >> was birtherism racist? >> look, i wasn't really involved in that. >> i know you weren't. was it racist? >> like i said, i wasn't involved in that. >> i know you weren't. was it racist? >> look, i know who the president is, and i have not seen anything in him that is racist, so again, i was not involved in that. >> did you wish he didn't do that? >> i was not involved in that. that was a long time ago. >> okay. on his way back from the golf course yesterday president trump made a rare and unannounced stop at a nearby church to observe franklin graham's national day of prayer on his behalf, removing his hat trump waved to congreganted and participated in prayer. trump said nothing during the

appearance which lasted less than 15 minutes. it was the day graham and 300 other evangelical leaders asked christians to pray for the president's protection as trump's enemies continued to try everything to destroy him, his family, and presidency. the president was there to pray for the victims of friday's virginia beach mass shooting who were not mentioned during his brief visit. the situation for residents in the middle of the country already under water may get worse this week. more rain is in the forecast for millions who are dealing with flooding and officials are now warning that those high waters may last through the summer. gabe gutierrez has more from arkansas. >> more communities are under water. here in pine bluff, arkansas, the river has crept up to rooftops, and it's still not expected to crest for days. >> it's just, it's crazy. i mean, you can't really explain it. >> we toured fort smith on the western edge of the state where hundreds of homes were inundated. >> it's been huge, and it's going to continue to be huge

because, you know, once this water finally gets out of here, people are going to start trying to rebuild and clean up, so we're going to be dealing with this probably all summer. >> normally beyond these trees is the arkansas river, but now look at all this water, extending to those homes all the way over there. >> i'm the house past that one. >> reporter: tommy white has lived here for 25 years. >> how tough is it to look at this with so much water? >> it's heartbreaking because we didn't have time to get all our furniture out. everything's still in there, until we can get in, see what it's like we have no idea what's destroyed. >> reporter: after weeks of severe weather, swollen rivers are also forcing new evacuations in missouri, east of kansas city. for so many across the south and central plains, tonight a sense of despair. >> very helpless, you know. you're just at the mercy of the lord, until we can get back in there, see what the damage is, what was lost. >> reporter: there is a road under all this, but the water

extends as far as the eye can see here in pine bluff, and the threat is not over yet. this region is expected to get more rain this week. >> unbelievable stuff. thanks to gabe gutierrez for that report. >> for many on that severe flooding we want to bring in nbc meteorologist bill karins. you can't explain what it is like to be in a situation like that when your home is flooded, all your belongings basically destroyed, gone, until you're actually in that situation, and these people are dealing with it right now. >> think of most weather disasters, like a tornado comes through, it lasts maybe a minute, a hurricane maybe lasts a day. i mean, this flooding is going on three, four weeks in some areas, and some people are out of their homes and can't get back in. it's just a slow moving disaster, and over the weekend the other issue is that because it's been going on so long, our levees are starting to struggle. we had numerous levee failures. almost every time a levee fails a new lake is made somewhere. and new evacuations were taking

place in areas of arkansas, illinois, even in iowa. it's not just the arkansas river. what's going to happen after a little bit of a break, we haven't had a lot of rain in that region in about three days. here comes our next storm. it's a slow-moving storm, and it's going to send rounds of rainfall back into the flood zone. i don't think a lot of our rivers are going to get worse. it's just going to make them drop that much slower and the more stress we have on those levees the more problems that are going to exist. here's the rainfall forecast. this goes from today through thursday. this area of pink here is three inches of rain, widespread red. we saw gabe near the fort smith area here on the arkansas river. that's going to be where some of the heaviest rain is going to be. the other story today, grab that jacket as you head out the door. great lakes and northern new england it's in the 30s and 40s in some areas. it will be a beautiful afternoon, guys. this is some of the best weather of the week that we're going to see in areas of the mid-atlantic and through the south. >> thank you, bill. still ahead, the latest on the race for the white house as one democratic contender

speaking out about gun violence following the deadly mass shooting in virginia. plus, the field of president trump's potential republican channelers shrinks as two hopefuls bow out in their 2020 bids. we're back after this. termites, feasting on homes 24/7. we're on the move. roger. hey rick, all good? oh yeah, we're good. we're good. termites never stop trying to get in, we never stop working to keep them out. terminix. defenders of home.

welcome back, 20 democratic president contender cory booker demanded change to how the nation deals with gun violence in the wake of the latest deadly massacre on friday.

take a listen. >> it is time for us as a nation not to normalize the violence and carnage of gun violence. it is time that we come together and stand together and take a fight to the nra, and the corporate gun lobby like we have never seen before. we can lead that fight, and we can win. >> you know, cory booker obviously being very outspoken when it comes to gun violence, when it comes to taking gun control measures as well, he works alongside the brady foundation. they support gun control measures and that sort of thing, also the former mayor of new york and he is one of the only presidential candidates so far that has come out with a very let's say progressive forward moving gun policy. >> yeah. >> that we've heard from, so we'll have to wait and see what happens there. not necessarily surprised to hear from him on all this. >> that's true. >> fellow presidential candidate senator elizabeth warren got a

massive crowd at a rally over the weekend. more than 6,000 people packed lay knee college in oakland, california on friday night marking the contenders first trip to the bay area since announcing her run. the scheduled town hall was moved from a 2,000 seat gym setting to a soccer field, an outdoor soccer field to accommodate more attendees. senator warren announced at the event that it was her largest town hall turnout to date. the field of president trump's potential gop challengers shrank over the weekend as two prominent republicans bowed out thanking supporters for their encourage, maryland governor larry hogan announced that instead of running he would focus on his second term as governor, his new role as the chairman of the national governor's association. meanwhile, former ohio governor john kasich a vocal critic of the president since the 2016 campaign argued there is, quote, no path to the white house for him in 2020 claiming that 90% of

gop voters support the president's re-election efforts. so far former massachusetts governor bill weld is the only republican challenging trump for his party's nomination. coming up, president trump kicks off his week abroad commemorating the 75th anniversary of d day. >> we'll have much more on the president's arrival in the united kingdom as he prepares to be greeted by queen elizabeth and other members of the royal family. >> we're going to go live to london, the latest on the various controversies the president is facing even before touching down on british soil. we're back in less than three minutes. keep it here.

retaliatory . president trump in the uk for a state visit. he landed a short time ago. this week he's expected to mark the 75th anniversary of the d-day invasion and meet with the prime minister amid brexit chaos. a require interview the president's son-in-law jared kushner weighs in on the plan for peace in the middle east. words of remembrance after a deadly shooting in virginia beach. we're learning new details about what led up to the massacre, including that the