facing criticism of dirty border conditions. this after a justice department lawyer argued against soap and toothbrushes for migrant children. president trump states he t of stoking tensions saying president trump doesn't want war but if it comes to that there will be obliteration like you have never seen before. and buttigieg faces tough questions after a fatal police shooting at a town hall event. good morning, everybody. it's june 24th. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside nbc white house correspondent jeff bennett. there's skepticism over why immigration and customs enforcement did not conduct a massive roundup of families to be deported this weekend. with just hours to go, president trump tweeted this. at the request of democrats i

have delayed the illegal immigration process for two weeks to see in the democrats and republicans can get together and work out a solution to the asylum and loophole problems at the southern border. if not, deportations will start. but the raids were called we were told in large because details of the plan had leaked to media. a second issue was that i.c.e. did not have plans in place for detaining the 2,000 immigrants mainly families whom they are going to arrest and then deport. notably it was president trump who announced the raids in a tweet just one week ago. a threat which according to "the new york times" had caught immigration officials off guard. as no major operations had been scheduled to begin. more details emerged friday in "the washington post" while a senior administration official tells nbc that the president also pulled back because of a sense that the administration is getting hammered in the media over this. a team of lawyers is sending a warning about the conditions

inside of a border patrol facility in clint, texas. hundreds of migrant children who have been separated from their parents or family members are being held in dirty, neglectful and dangerous conditions. according to the new yorker, the lawyers interviewed more than 50 children at the facilities in clint, texas, in order to monitor government compliance with the flores settlements which mandates that children must be held in safe and sanitary conditions and moved out of border patrol custody without unnecessary delays. the conditions the lawyers found were shocking. flu and lice outbreaks were going untreated and children were filthy, sleeping on cold floors and taking care of each other because of the lack of attention from guards. some of them had been in this facility for weeks. just late last week, a justice department lawyer went before a panel of judges to argue that the government should not be required to provide detained migrant children with soap,

toothbrushes and showers at customs and border protection facilities. look at. this. >> it's within everybody's common understanding that you know if you don't have a toothbrush, if you don't have soap, if you don't have a blanket it's not safe and sanitary. do you agree with that? >> well, i think it's -- i think those are -- there's fair reason to find that those things may be part of -- >> not maybe. are a part. why do you say maybe? you mean there are circumstances when a person doesn't need a toothbrush, toothpaste and soap for days? >> well, i think in custody it's intended to be for a shorter term stay and some of those things may not be required. >> vice president mike pence was asked about the conditions at the facilities. here's how he responded. >> aren't toothbrushes and

blankets and medicine, basic conditions for kids, aren't they a part of how the united states of america, the trump administration, treats children? >> well, of course they are, jake. >> well, the lawyer was arguing -- >> i can't speak to what that lawyer was saying. that's why we asked for more bed space. >> we asked to give blankets to the kids in el paso county. >> of course we do. >> so why aren't we? >> well, my point is it's all about part of the appropriations process. congress needs to provide additional support to deal with the crisis at the southern border. >> u.s. customs and border control enforcement put out a statement following the conditions, and it reads in part, u.s. customs and border protection leverages are limited resources to provide the best care possible to those in our custody especially children. as dhs and cbp leadership have noted, our short term holding facilities were not designed to hold vulnerable populations and we urgently need additional

humanitarian funding to manage this crisis. all right. joining us now from washington, julia manchester. some of the reports of the unsanitary conditions, julia, lice outbreaks as jeff was going through the -- taking care of each other, these are young children. we're not talking about teenagers here. despite the fact that teenagers shouldn't be subject to this either but these are 5-year-olds. >> 2-year-olds in some cases. >> 2 the-year-olds in some cases. i have a 2 1/2-year-old at home. i imagine the type of situation where he would be sitting in, having to take care of himself and others the same age as him facing things like this. what type of reactions are you hearing from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle from this? >> well, i think lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are horrified by these conditions and they have spoken out against them. the problem is in their reaction is who they're blaming so we saw texas republican representative michael mccaul go on a sunday talk show yesterday and essentially say, you know, these

conditions are awful but blamed it on congressional inaction. really sided with the trump administration and vice president pence on that and pushed for more -- you know, humanitarian action to be taken. but we are also seeing democrats saying this is essentially the trump administration fault. it's very hard not to at this point, it seems like they'd be shooting themselves in the foot if they didn't, but the problem is they're playing the blame game, if you will. you have democrats blaming the trump administration. and republicans saying it's congressional inaction. so it's kind of hard to tell where we're going to go from there because there's such -- it's such a complicated situation at the border right now. obviously, with president trump's announced i.c.e. raids which he's no longer doing now, that kind of further complicates the situation, what's happening down there. >> but there are people, julia,

who have the president's ear to include ivanka and melania trump and getting the president to stop the family separation policy, to launch the air strikes against syria because the situation involving the syrian children. do you think there's -- setting aside the politics of it because we know the president isn't always animated or motivated by the political calculations here, do you think there's anybody in his orbit who can force his hand here? >> you know it's very possible. i can see someone like ivanka trump or melania trump, people who have spoken on behalf of children, who try to portray themselves as very motherly like figures to push the president to understand this. you know, we saw actually just last friday when president trump halted that strike on iran due to the -- to the casual or the would-be casualty count, he pulled back from that. so we know that the president has a dovish side and can pull back on aggressive actions and does, you know, care about

humanitarian issues when it comes to the brink at this point. so i think it's very possible, absolutely. >> i think it at the end of the day i think what's so frustrating to those reading this story, there should be what were support for the children and they need to figure it out. there's so much noise and it's just a blame game. it's the reason why they can't get anything done. >> right. right. >> they think about the basics of this and it's about saving a human life. it's about saving a small child who has no fall, and i want is just incredible. >> really goes to show you how divisive government is -- >> so divisive. >> can't come together. >> there are real-life human costs to this. >> julia manchester, thank you. all right. turning now to the heightened tensions with iran. yahoo news and "the new york times" and "the washington post" report that the u.s. cyber command conducted online attacks against an iranian intelligence

group that helped to plan the recent attacks in the gulf of oman. it reportedly took place last thursday the same day that president trump called off military strikes on iranian targets and "the times" was told it was allowed to go forward because it was beyond the threshold of online contact. it was meant to be a direct response to both the oil tanker attacks and iran's downing of a u.s. drone. and per the "the post," early this morning the cyber attacks were claimed to be not be successful and on saturday, the director of homeland security cyber security and infrastructure security agency issued a warning that iran's quote malicious cyber activity directed at u.s. industries and government agencies is on the rise with the potential to disrupt or destroy systems. and over the weekend

president trump said that today the u.s. is adding additional sanctions on iran. the president also reiterated his desire to talk with iran's top leadership and in the same vein as with north korea the president says he does not want in to be any preconditions. >> do you want to do a separate deal with iran or do you want to get everybody involved in the same deal? if the -- >> i don't care what kind of a deal. it can be separate or it can be -- >> it's one-on-one with the -- talks with you and the ayatollah? >> anything that gets you to the result they cannot have a nuclear weapon. it's not about the straits they cannot have a nuclear weapon. they'd use it. they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. i'm not looking for war. and if there is it will be obliteration like you have never seen before. i'm not looking to do that. but you can't have a nuclear weapon. you want to talk, good. otherwise, you can have a bad economy for next three years.

>> no preconditions? >> not as far as i'm concerned. >> i just want to put out there the power structure in iran is quite different than with north korea. so if the president were to sit down with anybody it would not be khamenei. he's not someone who would sit down and negotiate with the president, tete-a-tete. it would be president rouhani and they said they're not willing to sit down with the u.s. president trump faces a new allegation of sexual assault. we're digging into the "new york" magazine's latest cover story. plus, the president announces his new nomination for the defense secretary mark esper. those stories and a check of the weather when we come right back. sometimes, the pressures of today's world can make it tough

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welcome back. president trump is denying a new allegation of sexual assault which prominent advice columnist e. jean carroll alleges happened 20 years ago. she writes about it in the new book, and which the publication said has been viewed over a million times. carroll claims the incident happened in the fall of 1995 or the spring of '96 during which she says trump forced himself on her and that she fought him off and ran away. at the white house, president trump says it never happened, citing claims she makes against other men in her book. he also addressed a 1987 photo that appears to show him, carroll and their spouses at the time. >> i have no idea who this woman is. this is a woman who's also accused other men of things as you know. it is a totally false accusation.

i think she was married as i read -- i have no idea who she is. but she was married to a -- actually a nice guy, johnson a newscaster. standing with my coat on in a line, give me a break. with my back to the camera. i have no idea who she is. what she did is -- it's terrible. what's going on. so it's a total false accusation and i don't know anything about her and she's made this charge against others. >> and new york magazine and "the new york times" have spoken with two friends whom carroll said she confided in after the alleged attack and de blasio said the nypd is ready to investigate but carroll said she's not interested. >> the moment we in new york city and the police department have a complaint we will investigate immediately and will find out the truth. >> would you consider bringing a rape charge against donald trump for this?

>> no. >> why not? >> i would find it disrespectful to the women who are down on the border who are being raped around the clock down there without any protection. >> all right. joining us here on the set, legal analyst danny cevallos. >> good to see you. >> if she pursue legal action, what would happen here? >> i don't normally say this, but there is zero chance that donald trump is going to face any criminal or civil liability for these alleged attacks and i'm really perplexed by de blasio saying that the nypd stands ready to investigate because almost all statutes of limitations have long since expired. now, the modern trend -- >> so it's not even based on any law? that's not based on any -- >> well, what he could mean is that the nypd will investigate to confirm that it happened in the 1990s, as soon as they do that then they can say oh, this happened in the 90s and the

statute of limitations has expired so de blasio may be correct. at the time, new york statute of limitations for the crimes was five years. there's no way that it would have been told or paused because most of the tolling statutes -- in other words the ones that allow the clock not to run yet involve a situation where the defendant is not known or who has run away or is left for canada or something like that. so that's not happened here. >> but politically, we know donald trump he skates from scandal to scandal. this is now the 16th woman i believe to accuse him of sexual misconduct n this case sexual assault. what do you think happens politically to him, if anything? >> virtually nothing because as you said, this is the latest in a long line of accusers. he can deny it and the reality is whenever an incident like this happens -- i have defended cases like this. when you have something that happened allegedly 20 years earlier it finds difficult to find out what happened and really it reduces to oath

against oath. you saw that in the bill cosby cases that after so much time, there's not going to be any scientific evidence. no videos have been retained. >> but there was -- but he was held accountable, bill cosby. >> that's right. because he was held accountable because of an exception -- i'm sorry, he was prosecuted under a particular statute of limitations just about to expire. it was weeks from expiring. if you can get it into court under the statute of limitations it's oath against oath, victim against defendant then it becomes a jury credibility issue. if the jury believes that claimant, victim, he -- >> and thus he was held guilty against andrea constand and not the other victims. >> that's right and the reason that donald trump will surely never face prosecution for this. no matter what de blasio says. >> all right, danny cevallos, thank you. let's get a check on your weather with nbc's bill karins.

>> missouri was hit hard by flash flooding, areas from anderson were hit the hardest. we had a flash flood emergency. five inches of rain in over three hours over the weekend. when you get water coming down that quickly you get scenes like this. look at the gas pumps, half covered in the floodwater. we have some nasty storms that are rolling through central mississippi. numerous severe thunderstorm warnings. winds gust up to the 60 miles an hour possible. keep that in mind if you're headed out the door and in houston the storms are about to knock on your door. same with beaumont and lake charles area. and later on this afternoon, we're going to deal with additional severe storms. we have a lot of people at risk of severe storms today, but they will be hit to miss. chicago to mississippi, ohio, down to atlanta those storms will push to areas of the appalachians overnight. here's the timing on this. this is 6:00 a.m. this morning.

the storms down here as we mentioned through houston into new orleans those die off and by 6:00, storms are over the top of columbus, headed into west virginia and hit and miss storms down here in the areas of the southeast. tomorrow morning, by the way, new york city up through new england could get showers and rain. not a big deal there. the worst of the weather by far was over the weekend and today will be a slow improvement. summer takes hold this week. it will be warm pretty much coast to coast. >> good stuff. thanks bill. still ahead, mayor pete buttigieg faces angry residents following the shooting death of a black man by a white police officer. what the 2020 presidential candidate is promising to do about the incident. we're back in a moment. help mak, like.. pnc easy lock, so you can easily lock your credit card when its maximum limit differs from its vertical limit. and clover flex, for when you need to take credit cards when no one carries cash. or requesting a call to help get a new credit card-

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investigation by the st. joseph county prosecutor's office and the officer has been placed on administrative leave. buttigieg will be writing to the justice department to say he agrees that the civil rights division will review the shooting, but he can't promise that the doj will actually conduct one. president trump has formally nominated army secretary mark esper to be the next secretary of defense and the white house announced the decision on friday night. following a tumultuous week at the pentagon after the abrupt resignation of acting defense secretary pat shanahan over domestic violence issues. esper's official duties in the new capacity began yesterday. esper fought in the persian gulf war before becoming a lobbyist for u.s. defense contractor raytheon. he is also a former west point class mate of mike pompeo. if confirmed, esper will fill the void of a permanent secretary of defense for first time since general jim matusz

left the role last year. how both sides are responding to the threat of military action against iran. and plus biden responds to comments about working with segregationist senators. what he had to say to the reverend al sharpton. those stories and more coming up next. s and more coming up next in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

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we start with president trump facing big questions on two major policy fronts. the president has called off a major deportation operation across the country on the heels of scrapping a military strike on iran. nbc news's ron allen has more. >> reporter: president trump is back at the white house from briefings at camp david after two dramatic policy reversals. demanding democrats negotiate a border deal in two weeks. or thousands of up documented migrants will be rounded up and deported. >> we want to end the days where we -- where people believe they can come in to the country and make a claim of asylum and then be released into the country on their own recognizance only to vanish into the nation. >> democrats are pushing back. house speaker pelosi said time is needed for comprehensive immigration reform. disturbing reports from the border emerge about conditions

at the u.s. facilities and advocates say there's not enough food, water or sanitation. >> we are seeing sick children and we are seeing dirty children and hungry children. >> reporter: the president on "meet the press" -- >> you're not schooling the kids anymore. >> we are doing a fantastic job and the democrats aren't even approving giving us money. >> reporter: the president is expected to slap another round of sanctions on iran after calling off a military attack. new reports today the u.s. launched a cyber attack at the missile systems. >> i'm not looking for war. and if there is it will be obliteration like you have never seen before. >> reporter: and the huge battle continues this week in congress over billions of dollars to fund various border issues. including humanitarian aid. with president trump's two week warning about deportations looming and congress preparing to take a break for the july 4th holiday and no agreement about how to solve the nation's border crisis, anywhere in sight. >> thank you to ron allen. a number of the 2020 democratic presidential candidates spent the weekend criticizing president trump over his potential military action

against iran. >> the idea that they would say to him when he said go ahead and bomb and take out whatever they were going to take out and not tell him what the consequences would be, not possible. simply not possible. the military does not function that way. whether or not there is a secretary of defense. >> donald trump as candidate ran for president saying he was going to bring all of our troops home. and now he has taken us right to the brink of war in the middle east. he has done this by his own ineptitude and trying to do foreign policy by tweet. >> and you have been a strong voice against and taking any military action in iran. >> absolutely. >> do you support the president pulling back -- >> everybody asks me do i support the president, do i

support you for putting out the fire you started, you know? first of all, let's be clear the president of the united states according to the constitution -- some of us are old fashioned, we actually believe in the constitution, and that is who has the decision making power over going to war, it ain't the president. it's the congress. and he does not have that authority. >> so the trump administration has released half of its long delayed middle east peace plan. on saturday the jewish sabbath the administration up veiled the economic portion of the plan calling for an investment of roughly $50 billion to aid palestinians. about $28 billion would go to the west bank and gaza and billions more to jordan, lebanon, egypt which are home to palestinian refugees and the money would come from donor nations and refugees and it's not expected to be released until after the new elections in september. several vital questions still remain including if the palestinians will get an independent state and the status of palestinian refugees.

two very important questions. palestinian leader abbas dismissed the plan and said focusing on the economic issues is unacceptable before the political situation is discussed. >> joining us from washington is political reporter for the hill, julia manchester. so julia, what's your take, how is this the first portion at least of this long awaited trump administration middle east plan, how is it going over? >> yeah, not too well at this point. you're seeing a lot of pushback from the palestinians and i would say a lot of people would say that's understandable because it seems that they were not included in this plan at all or the put together of this plan. we have the palestinian finance minister i believe, saying essentially how can we do economic prosperity first before peace? so it seems like a bit of a chicken and the egg scenario. granted, the political part of the plan has not yet been released. but yes, i think a lot of palestinians looking at this plan seem to think that the trump administration is biased a bit towards israel in the

creation of this. and i think palestinians would rather see the political portion or, you know, some sort of a peace plan be released before the economic plan is released. >> and as they're drawing up this plan, the palestinians were not included in those talks, so important to note that. what do you make of the pushback here that republican lawmakers are saying with president trump's decision over iran? >> yeah. it's quite interesting to see the pushback because i think a lot of lawmakers, you know, viewed that strike and i guess the fallout after the strike and were wondering how did we get so close to where the president said we were cocked and loaded, ten minutes to spare and then finally the president pulled back. i was struck by congressman adam kin singer, a veteran the vice president cited the casualties in all of this. but how come he wasn't asking questions about the casualties before this? how did he change his mind, so it seems like a lot of republicans are really struck by

the last minute scenario of this and how we got to this point and what pushed the u.s. to that brink in the first place. >> julia manchester, thank you for your time this morning. >> thank you. a massive leak of internal documents from the trump transition team reportedly reveals the vast amount of red flags for some officials who would go on to join the administration. axios on hbo has obtained nearly 100 of the documents used by the trump team to assess potential officials for the administration and possible concerns about their background. axios says that former epa administrator scott pruitt who lost his job because of a wave of ethical abuses and close ties to lobbyists had a section in the vetting form titled allegations of coziness with big energy companies. former health and human services secretary tom price who was also ousted from his job after president trump lost confidence in him in part for his use of chartered flights had sections in his dossier flagging, quote,

criticisms of management's ability and dysfunction has haunted him. axios says the president's current acting chief of staff mick mulvaney had a striking assortment of red flags including the assessment that trump is not a very good person. >> when it comes to the president's lawyer rudy giuliani who was considered as a potential secretary of state nominee, axios says that the trump administration, the transition team rather was so worried about him that they created a separate 25-page document titled rudy giuliani, business ties, research dossier with reporting of his foreign entanglements and one red flag for david petraeus who was under consideration for secretary of state and national secured advice is that he is opposed to torture. axios's jonathan swan will have more on the reporting coming up in a few minutes. still ahead, the trump administration reportedly looks to keep critical information on climate change under wraps. details on the steps that the white house has allegedly taken

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look at my strong man! don't patronize me... the new buick envision is full of surprises. current eligible gm owners get up to 16 percent below msrp on most of these 2019 buick models. that's just over 7 thousand on this envision premium. welcome back. the trump administration is refusing to publicize dozens of government funded climate change studies breaking a long standing department of agriculture practice. according to politico it's the latest in the persistent pattern of downplaying such findings which are peer review and cleared through one of the world's leading sources of scientific information for farmers and consumers and it's a nonpartisan arm of the usda. now, none of the 45 studies focused on the causes of global warming, but rather examined the effects of climate change ranging from a finding on climate change's negative effect on future allergy seasons to a

ground breaking discovery of carbon's effect on the nutritional value of rice which can pose serious health risks for 600 million people around the world. sonny perdue who is accused of retaliating against climate science researchers last month declined to comment, but a usda spokesperson has denied any directives discouraging the dissemination of the climate related science. vice president mike pence refused to say whether climate change was a threat repeatedly attempting to dodge the question during his appearance on cnn yesterday. here is the contentious exchange. >> but is what people are calling the climate emergency, is it a threat? do you think it's a threat man-made climate emergency is a threat? >> i think the answer to that is going to be based upon the science. >> well, the science says yes. i'm asking you what you think. >> there are many -- >> your own administration at

noaa, dni they say it's a threat but you won't. >> we are saying we won't raise utility rates, remember what president obama said -- >> not a threat. >> he said his -- his climate change plan it's going to cause the utility rates to skyrocket and that would force us into the green technologies. now you have democrats all running for president that are running on a green new deal that would break this economy -- >> so you don't think it's a threat is all i'm saying? >> i think we're making great progress reducing carbon emissions and america has the cleanest air and water in the world. we'll continue to use -- >> not true. we don't have the cleanest air and water in the world. we don't. according to -- well you get back to me with some statistics. >> we're making progress on reducing carbon emissions. let's get a check of your weather right now with bill karins. >> yeah, reducing is not going to do it. like everyone has to stop arguing with the 10 or 15% of people that will never be convinced no matter what.

you know? >> if you're wrong, you're wrong. >> i think it's interesting. i think what's mosting about it when in the history of the -- most interesting about it when in the history of the world when have we combated one issue before? maybe some diseases, world war ii. >> yeah. it seems to be shaping the next presidential election come 2020 with the green new deal. >> a lot more relevant than a decade ago. it wasn't even mentioned. >> people are starting to care about it. like they didn't before. >> i think they realize they can see the future for their grandchildren or -- >> exactly. >> or their grandchildren's children. let's get into the forecast for this week. the story over the weekend was all of the severe weather that's going to continue today and then we kind of go into the summer quiet like pattern at the end of the week. we had areas in missouri hit hard by flooding, a tornado in south bend, indiana, that was a big problem too. today we're worried about ohio all the way down to northern portions of georgia. a little sliver of west texas

too. 53 million people are at risk of severe storms, maybe 100,000 will see them. this is the areas that potentially could get involved in some of the strong storms. i'll focus in here from chicago. take you through indianapolis, cincinnati, columbus, lexington, louisville,s london, kentucky, knoxville area, most of the storms will make it to atlanta later on this evening. so if you have any flights out of atlanta, earlier in the day should be fine. and today will be feel like 107 in new orleans. some of the hottest heat indices we have had this season. charleston will feel like 102 tomorrow. we have some heat advisories issued along the southeast coast and some into the 90s. cincinnati and new york city included. as we mentioned new york city is still waiting for the first 90 degree day of the season. >> i'm sure when it comes it will come -- >> it will stick around. >> 107 in new orleans. i mean, that's something. >> that's hot. >> that's gross. >> that's true. >> he said it. still ahead, president trump changes his story on the extent to which he's read robert

mueller's russia report. >> and plus joe biden responds to controversy over working with segregationist senators. what he had to say next. ationis. what he had to say next. it's funny what happens when people get together. we're there. so you can be too. holiday inn. holiday inn express.

welcome back. former vice president biden has a new defense for his comments about segregationist senators calling him son instead of boy after the reverend al sharpton questioned him at the democratic convention on msnbc. watch this. >> it hurts when you talk about

boy. it means something different to us. it hurts when you call a racist like you normalize. that's not the biden i got to know, don't you understand that? >> i do fully understand. that's not what i said though. they didn't print the whole deal, you know what i mean? the context of this was totally different. i do understand the consequence of the word boy. but it wasn't said in any of that context at all. >> but you understand understand -- >> no no no no. they would never call me son. never call me -- >> no no no. but they called teddy kennedy boy. the reason he called me senator was to demean me -- i mean, son, i'm not qualified to be in the senate, i'm not old enough. i'm a kid. >> but speaking to abc yesterday, senator cory booker says the explanation didn't make sense. >> this is about him evoking a terrible power dynamic that he showed a lack of understanding or insensitivity to. by invoking this idea that he

was called son by white segregationists who yeah, they see him in him -- their son. >> he said it was taken out of context last night. >> i didn't understand that. i listened to the full totality of what he was talking about and frankly i heard from many, many african-americans who found the comments hurtful. >> meanwhile, congressman john lewis, an icon of the civil rights movement spoke out in defense of biden citing his work with segregationists. >> i don't think -- during the height of the civil rights movement we were the people who got to know people and that was members of the klan, people who opposed us. even people who beat us. and arrested us and jailed us. we never gave up on our fellow human beings.

>> and president trump is flip-flopping over whether or not he has read the full 448 page mueller report despite being a constant source of ire for his administration, he divulged in an interview with nbc news that he in fact has not read the report's complete findings. >> did you not read the mueller report? >> let me tell you i read much of it. >> unredacted version or no? >> no, i didn't. i didn't. >> okay. >> but let me -- >> so you know -- if he was subpoenaed -- you wouldn't know? >> i read the conclusion. i read the conclusion. >> and the president's latest reaction is a far cry from what he claimed in a separate conversation with abc news less than two weeks ago. >> he said there is no collusion. he didn't -- >> he didn't say -- >> he said there was no collusion. >> he said -- >> the report said no collusion. >> did you read the report? >> yes, i did. and you should read it too. coming up, axios' jonathan swan has a look at the one big

thing and on "morning joe" the reversal of course on two major policy fronts. more on trump's stopping the massive immigration roundup as he demands the democrats come to the table on a border deal. plus, the latest fallout on the decision not to strike iran. chris coons weighs in on that when he joins the conversation. "morning joe" is moments away. os are excited about the potential of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. oh! under seven? and you may lose weight. in the same one-year study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. oh! up to 12 pounds? a two-year study showed that ozempic® does not increase the risk of major cardiovascular events like heart attack, stroke, or death. oh! no increased risk? ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ ozempic® should not be the first medicine for treating diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes

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welcome back. joining us from washington with a look at axios a.m., jonathan swan. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> talk to us about axios' one big thing. >> so we have a rare glimpse in to what the trump transition team considered to be the biggest ethical and political vulnerabilities of the people they ultimately selected for the most powerful jobs in government. and the people they considered for those jobs so we obtained

nearly 100 internal political vetting forms, dossiers that were produced on people like ben carson, betsy devos, scott pruitt, mick mulvaney, the list goes on. we published -- we went through them, we redacted information that was personal. that was un -- sorry, personal in terms of contact information and details or unverified rumors. but we -- that's all online for people to see. >> dive into the red flags. what are the ones that stood out for you about certain people? >> well, the sort of a few different categories. i think the most important in firms of substance -- in terms of substance is that a lot of the problems, donald trump's first cabinet was a mess. i mean, most of it's gone -- much of it is gone and, you know, you can go through the list. but what we see from the documents is that not only were a lot of the problems foreseeable. they were actually foreseen. so you have scott pruitt, for example, right?

he lost his job for serial ethical abuses. and chumminess with lobbyists. there was a section flagged as coziness with big energy companies and tom price, he used the chartered flights, there was a section entitled criticisms of management ability and quote, dysfunction and division has haunted his leadership of the house budget committee. then you have others which -- people who didn't get jobs but it's quite ill levi's stadiumine vetting team considered as red flags. you have general david petraeus -- >> yeah, amazing. >> he was under consideration for secretary of state, national security adviser. petraeus is opposed to torture.

>> wow. >> kris kobach, former secretary of state in kansas, he was in the running for homeland security secretary and again, recently they listed in his vetting form as a vulnerability quote, white supremacy. >> unbelievable. >> it cited accusations from past political opponents that he had ties to white supremacist groups. and then you had, you know, laura ingraham, fox host, she was in serious contention for white house press secretary. direct quote from one of her red flags, she said people should wear diapers instead of sharing bathrooms with transgendered people. >> okay. that's shocking to say the least. what does this say about the trump administration's vetting process? >> so we did a lot of behind the scenes reporting on this. how it all came together. it was slap dash. and a lot of these problems could have been avoided but what happened was chris christie ran

the transition, they fired him. this is before the election, they fired him just after the election. so they effectively started from scratch the week after the election and there's not enough time to this do this properly. so they outsourced this giant task of political vetting to a group of about two dozen researchers at the republican national committee, almost all of whom were in their 20s. so they're frantically searching google, lexus nexus, you know, news clips, et cetera. look, they did the best they could under these trying circumstances but they did miss some things. and andrew -- they vetted him, missed the fact that his wife had accused him of domestic abuse, violence. so he his nomination was withdrawn the day before his confirmation hearing. >> wow. another great scoop by jonathan swan. >> they were hammered for it because of the record number of people that left the administration in the two years. since he's been president. >> right, thanks for your time. >> good talking to you.

>> thank you. we'll be reading axios a.m. in a little while. you can go to sign up.axios.com. >> that does it for us. i'm yasmin vossoughian here with jeff bennett. "morning joe" starts right now. no question that ivanka and others weighed in to him as it was asked earlier how he asked it. that when he himself saw images he was very, very moved. i think ivanka and others frankly -- i don't think that's many humans that came into contact with the president during that window of time that said did you see the images on television? so i don't think -- you know, i think there was a widespread acknowledgment that the images and the actions that had been taken were horrific and required action. >> the sight of children suffering in syria was enough for ivanka trump to push the president for action. will she do the same thing f