kelly odom joi kelly o'donnell joins us from the white house. will this help the president hit the reset button? the big question is, can a retired four-star general bring some stability and order to a white house has really been in so much trouble with in-fighting and turbulence? reince priebus was a well-respected chairman at the republican national committee and all of his time at the white house has been tense. after the health care defeat, he is out. >> after a stormy six months in office, president trump paused in a downpour to explain another shake-up. >> reince is a good man. john kelly will do a fantastic job. general kelly has been a star, done an incredible job thus far, respected by everybody, a great, great american. >> rumor to be in jeopardy for months, outgoing chief of staff, reince priebus, says he privately offered his resignation thursday. >> i think he was right to hit the reset button. i think it was something that i think the white house needs. >> his exit follows a humiliating broadside by new communications director, ant

kelly o'donnell following the president. keir simmons with protesters and richard angle covering vladimir putin. and in washington, steve clemens and msnbc contributor. this meeting was only supposed to last two hours. or excuse me, 30 minutes. it lasted two hours instead. do we have any idea what the two men spoke about? >> reporter: we don't yet. but we will shortly. we are told that in a matter of minutes, there will be a briefing from a senior administration official who will talk to reporters who are gathered at a different location about what the u.s. wants to say about this meeting. we expect there could be some announcements. there are news organizations, including the associated press, reporting that the u.s. and russia are prepared to announce some form of joint operation in syria, that could include a cease-fire in the southwest part of that country. we do know secretary tillerson had previewed such an idea earlier in the week where he talked about joint operations for humanitarian aid. >> excuse me just a moment.

kelly o'donnell is back with us. is what can you tell tell us about derrick harvey? >> reporter: an indication there is a power struggle within the national security council. we know h.r. mcmaster has relieved derrick harvey from his service at the white house. however, they say the administration will look for another place for him to have a role. this is notable because harvey is a retired army colonel, worked with david petraeus as a part of the surge in the iraq war strategy. comes from the defense intelligence agency and that's where that michael flynn connection comes from that you noted, craig. of course flynn was the former national security adviser who was barely in office here just a matter of days before he was forced to resign over his lack of transparency about his russia meetings or connections. and so this is a change in part of the strategy. now, part of the portfolio for derrick harvey, we understand, deals with iran. the president had said he would rip up the iran agreement. that has not happened. there is an expectation that iran keeping to its pro

jose. >> kelly o'donnell at the white house. thank you. an emergency unfolding tonight in the outer banks of north carolina where a power failure forced evacuation of tens of thousands of people at the height of summer tourist season. nbc's correspondent has more tonight. >> reporter: the timing couldn't be worse. at the height of the summer tourism season, parts of north carolina's outer banks without power. after construction crews accidentally cut a transmission line thursday while working on a bridge. mandatory evacuations are now in place for at least 50,000 visitors. everyone except residents, being ordered off two islands. >> the national highway traffic safety administration, says there have been more than 2700 complaints and 41 reported injuries. though, the agency says it does not have any proof the injuries were caused by carbon monoxide. ford says drivers of the nonpolice explorers should not be worried. >> we have not found elevated levels of carbon monoxide in any ford explorer. there have been reports of exhaust odors in som

our kelly o'donnell has the story. >> reporter: with a cinematic flair, today, the marine one landed on the deck of the "uss gerald ford." the 45th president there to honor the 48th and an aircraft carrier bay eier bearing his name. >> may god bless and guide this warship and all who shall sail in her. >> reporter: there were tributes to those in uniform and a nod to former president dick cheney and defense secretary donald rumsfeld. both served under ford. >> they look great. they look great. >> reporter: getting down to business, president trump urged congress to deliver on higher defense spending but added another political plug. >> by the way, you can also call those senators to make sure you get health care. >> reporter: before today's pomp and ceremony, the president launched a twitter blitz. ten tweets, from demanding action on health care to attacking hillary clinton. he even noted that a president has the complete power to pardon. a power famously exercised by the president that trump honored today. >> you grant a full, free and absolute pardon onto richard nixon. >> reporte

let's start with nbc's kelly o'donnell at the white house. kelly, this story seems to be evolving every hour. what's new this morning? >> reporter: well, when you look at what don jr. has said publicly now, it's sort of in the category of his curiosity got the better of him. if he were to look at the situation today, he might do it differently. but nothing to see here because the meeting didn't produce anything. donald trump jr. spoke on fox news channel with sean hannity, a friendly environment where they went through kind of all of the outstanding points. and this was donald trump jr. claiming that he is being transparent by putting out his e-mails, even though he did so just after being alerted that "the new york times" was prepared to publish them. here is don junior talking about some of the misgivings that he has now, that he's learned things. it's 13 months later, times are a bit different, even though at the moment, remember the subject line of that e-mail was russia and clinton. here is part of the don junior defense. >> in retrospect

jose. >> kelly o'donnell at the white house, thank you. >>> u.s. military sending a message to north korea in response to it's intercontinental missile test on friday. early this morning, the agency says it destroyed a medium range u.s. ballistic missile in a test of its defense system. the u.s. also flew two supersonic b1 bombers over south korea seen here escorted by japanese and south korean fighter jets. >>> there is heightened security at airports across australia tonight after the government said it disrupted a terrorist plot to bring down an airplane. several people have been arrested. nbc's sarah james is in melbourne with the latest on the investigation. sarah? >> reporter: jose, security has been ramped up near melbourne and at airports across australia after authorities foiled what they say was an elaborate islamic-inspired terrorist plot to bring down an airplane. police haven't named a specific terrorist group yet, but today a major counterterrorism investigation is under way. four men were arrested and remain in custody after a blitz

we get the latest from nbc's kelly o'donnell. >> reporter: for a second day, the president played host to world class golf at his bedminister club, but his shot at repealing the health care law is on hold, and delivering on his pledge, uncertain. but that's a boost to protesters near the president's property. the delay follows unexpected surgery for senator john mccain, who had a blood clot removed. he's doing well, but must remain in arizona this week. >> i believe as soon as we have, we have a full contingent of senators that we'll have that vote. it's important we do so. >> reporter: but senate republicans are struggling among themselves. divided over the scope of insurance reforms and proposed medicaid cuts. >> there are about eight to ten republican senators who have serious concerns about this bill. and so at the end of the day, i don't know whether it will pass. >> reporter: a new poll out today shows president trump with the lowest approval rating at six months of any president in 70 years. at 36%. on twitter, the president rounded that up, claiming, almost 40% is not bad at th

we begin with kelly o'donnell at the white house. . >> reporter: still in the grasp. president trump's new relationship with vladimir putin face to face at the g20 laid out in a first person account on twitter. i strongly press i strongly press president putin twice about russian meddling. he denied it. i've already given my opinion. a more pointed recap a more pointed recap by the chief of staff. >> president absolutely did not believe the denial of president putin. >> reporter: president trump says he wants to move beyond the election interference controversy. and partner with russia over a bold idea that's drawing skepticism and der rigs. we discussed a cyber security unit so that election hacking and many other negative things will be guarded. a dubious senator john mccain. >> i am sure that vladimir putin could be of enormous assistance in that effort since he's doing the hacking. >> reporter: the treasury secretary mnuchin says it makes sense. >> having capabilities to make sure we both fight cyber together which i think is a very significant accomplishment for

we begin with kelly o'donnell with the president in new jersey. >> oh, my god, what's going to happen. >> reporter: 28 seconds of presidential political theater. sent to tens of millions, from the official u.s. government twitter account and his personal @realdonaldtrump feed. depicting a takedown. ratcheting up his run-ins with the media. >> the fake media is trying to silence us. >> reporter: but the president's tweet contains its own fakery. the video was already on the internet. that cnn logo added to this 2007 pretend fight between businessman donald trump and wrestling empire vince mcmahon. >> donald trump is in a world he's not familiar with, this is not real estate. >> the white house homeland security advisor said the president is defending himself, not inciting violence. >> no one would perceive that as a threat, i hope they don't. i do think he's beaten up in a way on cable platforms, he has a right to respond to. >> cnn responded to a statement. it is a sad day when the president of the united states encourages violence against reporters, we will keep doing our jobs, he sh

kelly o'donnell has more for us. moments ago we had the president tweeting about his new white house communications director in anthony scare much scaramucci,o endorse me first before the republican primaries started but didn't think i was running. trump announced in august of 2015 calling him a hack. so does the timeline really add up there? >> not exactly. the president was trying to give a break perhaps to his new white house communications director who has been asked about his past comments. he was previously a supporter of wisconsin governor scott walker, who had been considered a strong front-runner before the primary season really got under way, based on the fact that he was a government with experience from the heartland. that's going back in sort of the 2014, early 2015 time period. we of course then watched that scott walker's type as a candidate was very brief. he jumped out of the race and others to get out of the race as well as a counter to donald trump. as we saw in the white house yesterday, he fully

let's go to kelly o'donnell near mr. trump's golf club in new jersey. kelly, good saturday to you. first, let's talk about health care. where did the president's tweet and senator, senator mcculloch's response, where does that leave the health care battle? >> reporter: well, there are big question marks what the senate can possibly achieve on health care after they miss the first big deadline. they hoped to have voted this past week. that didn't happen. there is a lot of disagreement within just the republican members of the senate about how to proceed. concerns about the cost to americans that would lose health insurance if they change the structure of how insurance is provided. lawmakers in the home states for the fourth of july break, they will talk what to do and work on the bill but when the president tweeted about perhaps they should just repeal now and replace later, that breaks months if not a couple years of his rhetoric on the campaign trail and since he's been in office, about the need to do that simultaneously. that's what he promised the public. that's what republicans

alex. >> kelly o'donnell at the white house, we'll look forward to seeing you again. on the heels of kelly's report, let's bring in john harwood and senior political reporter for usa today, heidi przybylprzybyl. we get a tweet storm of 11 tweets over four hours. is this an omen of things to come? >> no question about it, alex. look, the core issue here is about the president, his conduct, how he and his associates have run their business, how they got elected and what they're doing since they have been elected. there is every sign from the news reports that we've gotten and from the president's own reaction that robert mueller, the special counsel, as well as the investigating committees in the senate are getting closer and closer to getting their arms around those facts, about the exchanges between don jr. and the russian lawyer and the russian spy, the information about jeff sessions talking about russia policy with kiz k kislyak, the ambassador to washington from moscow, and that fact that mueller is getting closer appears to increasingly distress the president. and

jose. >> kelly o'donnell at the white house. thank you. an emergency unfolding tonight in the outer banks of north carolina where a power failure forced evacuation of tens of thousands of people at the height of summer tourist season. nbc's correspondent has more tonight. >> reporter: the timing couldn't be worse. at the height of the summer tourism season, parts of north carolina's outer banks without power. after construction crews accidentally cut a transmission line thursday while working on a bridge. mandatory evacuations are now in place for at least 50,000 visitors. everyone except residents, being ordered off two islands. >> we slept in the parking lot last night in the camper, waiting for, so we can get on the 7:00 ferry this morning. >> reporter: for now, ly generators until power is restored. businesses on the outer bank whose rely on summer tourism to get them through the rest of the year are worried. >> it is like a -- having a hurricane without the tumultuous side of it. >> i really feel for the people that run the business h

that story from my colleague kelly o'donnell. >> reporter: today the president as spectator-in-chief. promoting the family business by attending the women's u.s. open, held at his bedminster golf resort. however relaxed the president may appear, he is trying to change course, first playing down one crisis with his dismissal label referring to the russia hoax story in a tweet about the stock market rally while making official his hiring of a new lawyer inside the white house, naming wash wash veteran ty cobb as the president's special counsel to handle the russia investigation internally. while on tv, one of the president's personal lawyers defends him. >> the president has stated very clearly that he was not aware of the meeting and did not attend the meeting and that has been undisputed. no one has disputed that, so he was not aware of it, did not attend it. >> reporter: and changing course on health care. the president is now playing a short game, using his twitter feed, promising to save americans from the obamacare disaster, and his weekly address. >> we are very, very close to en

kelly o'donnell has the latest. >> reporter: back in new jersey, where president trump's bed minister resort is hosting the women's u.s. open golf tournament this weekend. the president and son eric watched from the clubhouse. a big event for the trump family business. while the trump white house is in the rough over the russia investigation. lkts political pressure turned occupy. >> this is yet another disturbing turn much events. >> it's been one week since the revels that donald trump jr. met with a russian lawyer at trump tower during the campaign. he tried to control the damage himself. >> so as far as you know as far as in incident is concerned this is all of it this is everything this is everything. >> but that wasn't everything. the 2016 meeting brought donald trump jr., jared kushner and paul manafort face-to-face with a former sergeant in a soviet military centre intelligence unit. rinat akmetshin is now a naturalized american citizen and d.c. lobbyist known to work on russia related issues. some u.s. officials suspect he may still have russian intelligence ties. he deny tha

nbc's kelly o'donnell is live near trump's golf club in new jersey. good morning, kelly. first, what is on tap for the president this weekend? >> good morning, dara. we can imagine that the president is going to have some time with family, maybe a little time at the golf. you know, he's at his golf club, so one might expect he would be doing some golfing. but at the same time, he's also probably doing a little preparation for a big trip that comes next week. that's his second foreign trip where he'll be heading to poland and to germany and that's for the g20 summit. .that stands out because it will be his first opportunity as president to meet with vladimir putin. so there's a lot riding on that. but there's been so much turmoil around his administration. and you talked about the tweets, that certainly got in the way of a big visit from the south korean president. and this holiday weekend may give his administration a little break from the controversy. >> the trump family version of an american summer tradition. with a presidential lift to get them to their new jersey hom

>> kelly o'donnell, thank you. >>> for most states, this holiday weekend, today, to be precise, marks the beginning of the new fiscal year. in new jersey and maine, the governors shut down nonessential state services after lawmakers failed to pass budgets by the midnight deadline. among other things, state parks and beaches in new jersey are closed. in illinois, the crisis is even worse as the state began a third year today without a budget. nbc's ron allen reports on the impact there. >> reporter: the illinois budget disaster is sometimes a matter of life and death. we met evelyn in this treatment center in chicago. >> i was using for over ten years. >> reporter: and this place got you clean? >> got me clean. >> reporter: has it saved your life? >> it saved my life, most definitely. >> reporter: the budget relies on money from the state. $6 million in bills now sent to illinois have gone unpaid. now drastic layoffs and cuts. >> you could be helping more people? >> i could be helping more. i need to be helping more. >> reporter: illinois now has some $15 billion in unpaid bills, no bu

. >> all right, so let's go to bridgewater, new jersey, and my colleague kelly o'donnell is there. kelly, lots of reaction this morning to the president's latest tweet. what can you tell us about his public schedule today or what's on the schedule for the president and senior staffers? >> well, being this is a holiday weekend, no surprise, there aren't public events. the president was in washington for a few hours last night where he spoke at a gala for veterans that was hosted by a dallas-area mega church. so he has done a public event today. nothing on a public schedule, but they have told us that this evening, given the time difference, the president will be making calls to the leaders of japan and china. those foreign leader calls as we tend to refer to them are a regular part of his interaction and it of course comes just days before he travels to europe, where he will be part of the g-20 summit of the economic powers. so there are lots of issues to discuss there. it also comes right after south korea president, president moon, was in washington for several days, and was at the

kelly o'donnell at the white house, good afternoon to you, kelly. the president seems to be reaffirming what the secretary of state, rex tillerson and others have been saying in the readout from that meeting. >> reporter: well, this was the president's "first look" person account of what happened with that meeting of president putin. we had heard from secretary tillerson, who was the other official in the meeting. these were the two people sitting across from vladimir putin and describing what went on during the two hours and 16 minutes. both men are saying president trump went after putin in terms of pressing him, is the word, each of them used, about the hacking. both say that putin denied it. putin is saying publicly that the president accepted his response. u.s. officials are not characterizing it that way, although the president wasn't specific about that. so in many ways they are talking about the same things. there is one area of discrepancy that i haven't been able to sort out yet. i've asked white house officials for clarification. the pres

kelly o'donnell, i'm going to ask you to stick around. we're going to check back in with you later in the hour. thanks so much for breaking that down, kelly. >>> now to nbc's garrett haike on capitol hill. leader mcconnell is taking the floor. the session is opening up. the stakes could not be higher. set the scene. what are you anticipating and what are you hearing? >> reporter: kristien, the leadr has called this a rubix cube, even less fun than jenga, trying to slide all the pieces into place here. there are ten hours left on debate on this bill. then we refer to what we affectionately refer to as vote-a-rama on this bill. democrats would love to have this final vote come down to something like 3:00 in the morning to imply that senators somehow are sneaking this plan in in the middle night. when that vote-a-rama wraps up, the leader will offer what's called a manager's amendment, this skinny repeal. it's all being hashed out today. it's incredible after seven years we're going to come down to essentially 2 1/2 days of discussion on some

kelly o'donnell at the white house for us. thank you kelly. >>> let's bring in erica warner now.esearch fellow at the hoover institution and former advisor to marco rubio and mitt romney. let's start with you on this part and you heard what kelly o'donnell was reporting for us and she was saying the president going after mitch mcconnell, now the question might be, okay, who is wleeding the republican party at the moment outside of donald trump when it comes to policy? >> i'm not sure there's an easy answer on that. i think you saw really some of the divisions within the republican party particularly on health care policy laid bear here over the last couple of weeks for seven years, it was very easy for republicans to say we want to repeal and replace obamacare now that we have the congress that's in the control of the republicans, the presidency in the control of the republicans, you had the house act, the senate was unable to act. more than anything richard because they didn't agree on the policy, they didn't agree on medicaid expansion, they didn't agree on subsidies for low in

nbc's kelly o'donnell is in new jersey, not far from the president's golf course retreat, where he is at this weekend. kelly, so much to digest today. main headline, we'll start with this, is the issue about what the white house is saying regarding the polls and as well as regarding russia. >> reporter: well, as we often say, richard, the white house is not talking about this, in the official capacity of the white house, they are focused on other things. and when we had a briefing today looking ahead for the week, they are talking about their domestic agenda, buy american, manufacturing, those kinds of things, so we have to separate the white house officially is not engaging in this, not even commenting on the polling numbers. what we did see, and you played clips of the president's personal lawyer hired outside the white house, who's been the chief spokesman on television for the president, we've not heard from the lawyers at least publicly for jared kushner and donald trump jr., who are, of course, involved in this, but each has a separate lawyer or teams of lawyers. so, for the pre

nbc kelly o'donnell is traveling with the president in germany. good to see you, kelly. what do you know, we literally are just few minutes away. what do we know about the strategy on both sides dpoeg ini into this meeting? >> part of something that will happen is something that we don't know and a narrowly focused group of attendees and secretary tillerson and foreign minister lavrov. dialogue relationship building. it also limits who would be in the room able to interpret and perhaps share publicly what goes on in this meeting. so, there's a secrecy element to it. there's an intimacy to it, as well. we know the u.s. had wanted this kind of a one-on-one meeting as opposed to what we sometimes refer to as a more casual, yet planned meeting with world leader. the president will do some of those in another context. but for all of the obvious reasons this meeting needed to be a face-to-face proper meeting, if you will. now, having covered past presidents and their meetings with putin, chris, you and i both know the u.s. prepares and the russians prepare sort of a psychologi

>> and kelly o'donnell, going out on a limb, suggesting the president might go off-script today. we thank you for that, kelly. kasie, i don't know, did you sleep one hour, two hours last night, if at all? what's the mood on capitol hill? where do they go from here? >> reporter: it was a late night up here, chris. but at this point, look, everybody is a little punchy. nobody totally knows what happens next. i think the idea that kelly was alluding to, this idea that there might be another iteration of health care, i have a feeling everybody is pretty exhausted by the idea of that right now, at least if it's going to be republican-only. chuck schumer spoke to reporters earlier, excited about the idea of potentially doing something in a bipartisan way. john mccain putting out a statement to that effect, as well. and there was some frustration expressed on the house side, too, because remember, house republicans did pass a bill. they -- a lot of them took a pretty tough vote, and it took two tries, but they did get it done, and they're kind of left hanging here. our colleagues caught

kelly, thanks very much, good to see you, kelly o'donnell in hamburg. stand by we're watching all developments in hamburg less than an hour away. president trump meeting with angela merkel as kelly just said. coming up, a member of the foreign relations committee and subcommittee on east asia. i'll speak with ed markey of massachusetts, we'll come to him after this break. rheumaid aitis. before you and your rheumatologist move to another treatment, ask if xeljanz is right for you. xeljanz is a small pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz can reduce joint pain and swelling in as little as two weeks, and help stop further joint damage. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz if you have an infection. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start

kelly o'donnell looks at the explosive tweets. >> the president taking no holiday from twitter.st, a friendly shotout, happy canada day. then president trump set off more f media feud, saying the host of "morning joe" is crazy and dumb. and then firing a rocket, what are they trying to hide. more than half of state election officials are refusing to submit voter registration commission to a voter fraud panel. >> i would be very hesitant to send out voter data that is available here in arkansas into a national database. >> among the reasons, privacy concerns, state authorities over elections and fears the data could be used to disqualify some voters. but the other pyrotechnic this weekend are going off over health care. >> stands up for the people here and saying we need our health care. >> and the republican senator -- >> i am doing my best to make sure that we care for those with pre-existing conditions. >> facing heat from constituents, republican lawmakers find themselves back home with no plan yet and no answers on how to replace obamacare. >> kicking them off their health c

thanks also to hans nichols and kelly o'donnell for us. let's sink our teeth into that meeting today between president trump and president putin. helping me out on this is former senior director for european affairs at the nsc and former national intelligence officer for europe on the national intelligence council. and also we have former assistant secretary of defense for on international security affairs and former senior director for strategic planning at the nsc. both of them are with the german marshall fund. thanks to both of you for being here. what is your sense out of what you heard from the meeting and while there are differences in the readouts from the russians and american, both sides seem to be implying that it is a productive meeting. >> so i was struck that they began the meeting by talking about russian interference with in the u.s. election. we heard president trump yesterday in poland say that he wasn't clear about who had intervened and that was striking because the u.s. intelligence community had assessed that there wa

kelly o'donnell has the latest >> reporter: tonight, a new powerplay from vladimir putin as the russian president surveyed his nation's military might on parade, putin ordered a diplomatic retaliation against the united states. in an interview on state owned tv, putin said he will cut the number of americans allowed to serve in russia by 755 traveling today, the vice president is in estonia, a former soviet state. >> we expect russian behavior to change >> reporter: putin blamed the u.s. for deteriorating relations after congress overwhelmingly approved new sanctions to punish russia for 2016 election interference and aggression for his neighbors. >> the president made it clear that very soon he will sign the sanctions from the congress of the united states to reinforce that >> reporter: the strain tonight is far greater than just three weeks ago when president trump and putin met in hamburg. >> president putin and i have been discussing various things and i think it is going very well >> reporter: complicating the escalating tension, the political drama around the trump team and invest

nbc kelly o'donnell has the latest for us. >> reporter: still in the brass. president trump's new relationship with vladimir putin face to face at the g20. laid out in a first person account on twitter i strongly pressed president putin twice about russian meddling in our election, he vehemently denied it i've already given my opinion. a more pointed recap by the chief of staff. >> the president absolutely did not believe the denial of president putin. >> reporter: president trump wants to move beyond the election interference controversy and partner with russia over a bold idea that's growing skepticism and derigs. putin and i discussed forge an i am pen trabl cyber security unit so that election hacking and other things will be guarded dubious senator john mccain. >> i am sure that vladimir putin could be of enormous assistance in that effort since he is doing the hacking. >> reporter: the treasury secretary says it makes sense. >> this is about having capabilities to make sure we both fight cyber together which i think is a very significant accomplishment

. >> let's go to kelly o'donnell. kelly is near the president's golf club in new jersey.ere president trump is spending the holiday weekend. explain where the health care battle stands now, especially after this confusing presidential tweet. >> it would appear the president is trying to do something to get a deal going. he has talked about health care in a number of different ways. this is a departure from his views during the campaign season and the early months of his presidency where he said just repeal it 5and come up with a replacement later. we can find all kinds of comments where he said it must be repealed and replaced in one breath. because republicans are many votes away from agreement on how to get their version passed it may be a tweet where the president is trying to throw a jump ball and get activity going. it doesn't look like mitch mcconnell wants to take up the suggestion and senators are in their home states. those that will hold town hall meetings or have other interactions with the public will get a sense of where things stand. i'm told mitch mcconnell

>> kelly o'donnell at the white house, thank you, kelly. andy card was chief of staff to 2001 to 2006. across two terms great to have you. this is a fascinating between two different personalities. the president operates on chaos and impulse and a marine general that lived inside a chain of command his life. how is it going to be work. >> there will be strains. i hope general kelly, he is a terrific leader, i hope he will demonstrate to the president the value of discipline, self-discipline, discipline in the organization. general kelly understands the ways of washington, too. he actually worked closely with two secretaries of defense in wa gtpresident's agenda done then. one was gates, the other leon panetta. he worked with people on capitol hill a long time. he knows the ways of washington, knows how to lead people, and unta in the organization doesn't help you win the war. you want to demonstrate to other people at the white house that he gets along well, doesn't pull out the knives, stab each other in the back because you don't want con

craig. >> kelly o'donnell for us this morning. kelly, thank you. ashley parker is an msnbc political analyst and also white house reporter for "the washington post." ken dilanian is an investigative reporter for nbc news. good morning to both of you. ken, you broke the story yesterday. rinet akmetshin, that lobbyist with reported ties to russian intelligence in that june meeting last year with donald trump jr. and the russian attorney. what more do we know about akmetshin and what more do we know about his role in that meeting. >> well, he's a political operator, he's a fixer, he's been called the gun for hire. he lobbies in the shadows which is probably not surprising that his role was the unearthed in this meeting. we're not exactly sure whether he had a role in setting it up. we do know that he lobbied with this russian lawyer against sanctions called the magnitsky act and he's been doing that for years. that happens to be a cause that's near and dear to the heart of vladimir putin. now, he is suspected by some american officials of having ties

kelly o'donnell joins us right now from new jersey. kelly, what is the reaction from the roving white house, if you will, on these latest tweets? >> reporter: well, it's a mixed reaction, because we've been requesting comment from senior white house officials really all day, because this tweet went out early this morning, and we've had no response. it is a holiday weekend, of course. but the president did have some of his team on television, including his homeland security adviser, who talked about the president and his social media plat porm and the fact that he feels the need to defend himself. the president foreshadowed this last night when he flew back to new jersey for a few hours, then back again. he attended an independence day weekend event where the president spoke to a group that gathered, evangelicals, the christian community and honoring the veterans. but he used that platform to salute those served and to take on the media. he brought to light some of the other tweets he put out when he spoke to that crowd last night. here

joining us with more on this following the president's day is nbc's kelly o'donnell. y, he's about to make a speech. do we know what he's going to say? and who is this crowd? >> reporter: the president tonight is celebrating his first independence day weekend as president and commander in chief and we know that there are veterans who have been invited to attend, wounded veterans who have come from the walter reed medical center and it's an event hosted by the first baptist church of dallas, which is a mega church. i don't have the images available from the kennedy center. feel free to stop me, if necessary. this is an event will that celebrate religious freedom as well as those who are uniform. richard? >> he's now arriving to the podium and is about to speak. kelly o'donnell, thank you very much. let's listen to the president. >> this is some group. thank you very much. some group. nice to win. isn't it? isn't it nice to win? robert, thank you for that great introduction and thank you to everyone from first baptist dallas. pastor, you and amy have stood with us since