we have it all covered with nbc chief white house correspondent hallie jackson. hallie good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. it seems like a matter of when, not if president trump will respond to that devastating attack. what we don't know is what that response might look like. any minute more missile strikes maybe, nearly a year to the day after the last round with president trump now promising a decision fast. >> we'll be making some major decisions over the next 24 to 48 hours. we're talking about humanity. and it can't be allowed to happen. >> reporter: nothing is off the table he says. blaming animal assad, his new nickname for the syrian president and notably putting not just iran but russia on notice. >> if it's russia, if it's syria, if it's iran. >> reporter: for the deaths of dozens of civilians outside damascus. in some of his strongest terms yet, the president is calling out vladimir putin. >> he may, yeah, he may. if he does, it's going to be very tough. >> reporter: last april, a similar attack, similar horrific images and a similar warnin

our white house correspondent hallie jackson is traveling with the president in florida. hallie, what's the latest? >> reporter: well, lester, tonight the president is adding three new people to his legal team including rudy giuliani, the former new york city mayor, former u.s. attorney and long-time confidant of donald trump. the president himself referencing that in a statement out tonight saying "rudy is great, he has been my friend for a long time and wants to get this matter quickly resolved for the good of the country." the president's legal team, as it relates to the special counsel investigation shrank about a month ago, remember, apparently over disagreements on strategy and the president hasn't had much success expanding his team, at least until today. giuliani has been spotted here in west palm beach as the president spends his week in his mar-a-lago property nearby. nearby. >> hallie, where do things stand on the potential summit between the president and kim jong-un? >> reporter: that's another big focus for donald trump down here in south florida this week an

hallie jackson has the details. >> reporter: late tonight, new allegations against ronny jackson in documents obtained by nbc news compiled by the top democrat on the veterans affairs committee. senator john tester says nearly two former and current colleagues many in uniform claim jackson recklessly per scribed drugs, sometimes without prescriptions and kept questionable records for percocet and drank on the job traveling with the president and wrecked a vehicle while intoxicated. >> we have more work to do on the allegations and more scrutiny on his ability to handle a budget as big as the v.a.'s budget and people under him. >> reporter: jackson denies any crash. >> i've not wrecked a car. >> reporter: he adds he wants to move forward with his no, ma'am mansions and wants to move forward and told president trump the accusations are misleading. >> most of the allegations are sloppy paperwork or bad practices. the controlled substances, if those were given out that could trigger an investigation. >> reporter: with jackson's nomination on life support, the white house scrambling to save him pu

hallie jackson has details. >> reporter: tonight, battle mode and a coordinated comey assault. >> comey will be forever known as a disgraced partisan hack. >> this book should be on the fiction shelf. >> seems to me he seems like a disgruntled ex employee. >> reporter: president trump today torching his fired fbi director as an untruthful slime ball painting the president after james comey's scathing comment in a new book, painting the president as obsessed with disproving a dossier packed with salacious unfounded rumors. >> honestly, never thought these words would come out of my mouth but i don't know whether the current president of the united states was with prostitutes peeing on each other in moscow. it's possible. i don't know. >> reporter: comey describes the trump presidency as a forest fire. comey acknowledges he may not like donald trump's behavior but it may fall short of being illegal. the books come -- the book coming after months of criticism from the white house. >> he's been besmirched publicly and his professional judgments have been called into question and i think thi

our hallie jackson has details. >> reporter: a white house huddle tonight. president trump's top advisors in and out to talk next steps in syria behind closed doors. >> now we have to make some further decisions so they will be made soon. >> reporter: the president presented with multiple military options. u.s. officials say those range from targeted tomahawk strikes on syrian sites to something more wide ranging like a sustained campaign aimed at affecting military operations and multiple targets. any action retaliation against the assad regime for yet another suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of syrian civilians even children. u.n. ambassador nikki haley with nbc's andrea mitchell. >> we definitely have enough proof. but now we just have to be thoughtful in our reaction. >> reporter: nbc news learned of evidence of chlorine gas and a nerve agent in samples taken from victims according to two officials familiar with the investigation. news the u.s. government is confident the syrian dictator was behind the horrific attack. >> our strategy

hallie jackson, nbc news, washington. >>> there's a big question swirling tonight. will vladimir putin be welcomed inside the white house after russia's meddling in the 2016 elections? that question sending shock waves through washington after it was revealed the trump administration is considering a summit with putin in washington. we get details from nbc's peter alexander. >> reporter: the president today welcoming thousands of families to the annual easter egg roll here at the white house. >> we call it tip hi-top shape and it's a great, great place. >> reporter: and the white house could be the venue for a blockbuster summit between president trump and vladimir putin. the kremlin today revealing mr. trump suggested it during his congratulatory call with putin last month. >> we will probably get together in the not too distant future so that we can discuss arms. >> reporter: press secretary sarah sanders confirming the president's discuss to sit down at a number of potential venues including the white house. tonight putin's aides say there haven't been concrete d

our hallie jackson has details. >> reporter: tonight, all signs point to what seems all but inevitable, a strike on syria soon. >> thank you-all very much. >> reporter: on twitter, the president previewing an attack and putting russia on notice after a russian official promised moscow would shoot down any missiles aimed at syria. president trump writing get ready russia because they, the missiles, will be coming nice and new and smart. you shouldn't be partners with a gas killing animal who kills his people and enjoys it. defense secretary james mattis not ready to say for sure the assad regime is behind this weekend's deadly chemical weapons attack outside damascus. >> we're still assessing the intelligence ourselves and our allies. >> reporter: but to the white house and others around the world, it's clear the syrian dictators to blame for yet another horrific poison gas attack targeting people in their homes including children. rescuers working frantically to help them. >> the use of chemical weapons cannot go unchallenged. >> reporter: the u.k. and france now agreeing on the need t

hallie jackson, nbc news, the white house. >>> this is tom costello. wichita, kansas, is a world away from the trade war talk in beijing and washington, but steve hunter's construction business is already paying the price. 25% more for steel than what he paid in february. steel prices jumped after the u.s. imposed tariffs on cheap chinese steel. >> if the tariffs continue, it's going to impact our business. we're going to have to lay off employees and we're going to have to cut back on expenditures. >> reporter: meanwhile, in california, 5,000 cases of wente wine meant for china are stuck at the port after china retaliated with a 15% tariff on u.s. wine exports. a big hit after wente's business with china jumped 80% last year. >> once again we are collateral damage for things taking place at a political level that really has very little to do with wine. >> reporter: the list of u.s. goods on china's tariffs list is growing longer by the day, including corn, soybeans, pork, fruit, nuts, aluminum, planes, aviation parts, trucks, cars and suvs. while the

hallie jackson, nbc news, the white house. >>> for the first time in more than a decade, the surgeon general is issuing a national advisory urging americans to carry and learn how to use the drug naloxone. better known by the brand name narcan. he said it may be the most important weapon in the battle against the growing number of open yoed deaths in our country. nbc's anne thompson has more in our ongoing series "one nation overdosed." >> reporter: naloxone, by spray or injection, is the powerful and controversial drug that pulls opioid addicts back from the brink of death. today the surgeon general urging more americans to have this drug on hand, to fight the epidemic ravaging the nation's families and neighborhoods. >> i hope naloxone will be in the hands of every individual who could possibly find themselves in a position to save a life. >> reporter: dr. adams says more than half of opioid overdoses happen at home, killing someone every 12 1/2 minutes. so he wants naloxone to be as common as epipens or defibrillators. but critics say it just revives addicts so they can use again.

>> hallie jackson, thank you. >>> in houston tonight, former president george h.w. bush remains hospitalized in intensive care fighting a blood infection. the 93-year-old bush's condition is unchanged since aides said he was responding positively to treatment. >>> tonight for the first time the husband of the passenger killed in the mid-air engine explosion in a southwest airlines plane is speaking to the media. this comes amid a new report by bloomberg that the engine's manufacturer was preparing to recommend inspections that would have including the engine that failed. nbc's joe fryer has more on the family's loss. >> reporter: a week after jennifer riordan's tragic death, her family is choosing to focus on her life. >> she's going to be with us forever and everything we do as a family is going to be based on jennifer riordan. >> reporter: her husband michael says she was constantly sending text messages to friends spending love and kindness. how often did she say the words i love you? >> our last call was just that. she called to say she was going to the airport.

nbc's hallie jackson has more. >> from the moment these memos' existence was revealed -- >> i create dollars records after conversations -- >> high anticipation and high drama. the memos, painting a picture of the focus on then national security adviser mike flynn in the early days of the administration has flynn was under investigation by the fbi. at one point, james comey says donald trump explained his serious reservations about flynn's judgment, apparently furious over a phone call you wasn't told about quickly enough from vladimir putin. just weeks after the president was briefed on russia's interference in the 2016 election. comey says the president never brought up that interference. comey says he was asked whether the fbi was secretly surveilling flynn. quote, this illustrated the kind of question that had to be asked and answered through established channels. >> so you're sort of teaching the white house chief of staff how these things are supposed to happen when they're handled, when the relationship between the justice department and the white house is properly handled. >>

hallie jackson, nbc news, the white house. >>> for a second day, schools were empty across oklahoma as tens of thousands of teachers walked off the job, demanding higher pay and more money for their classrooms. nbc's gabe gutierrez spoke with several teachers on the picket lines about the struggles motivating this massive strike. >> reporter: today oklahoma's capital at capacity. thousands of teachers swarming the legislature for a second straight day. >> this is your classroom. >> yes. >> reporter: but amber's sixth grade classroom is empty. she makes $34,000 a year. >> we live month to month for that paycheck. >> reporter: she and her husband have two children and work second jobs to make ends meet. she pays for her students' supplies out of her own pocket. >> it's what we do for our kids. >> reporter: how many of you use your own money to pay for supplies for your classrooms? today we sat down with educators. fourth grade teacher ashley robinson said she made more monday knee her previous job in retail. heather boyle has been in the classroom for almost 20 year. >> i have a daughter

hallie jackson, the white house. >> some economists are predicting collateral damage to a potential trade war. so let's bring in melni and kevin. thaunks bo thank you both for getting soup early. kevin, let's start with you. we saw larry kudlow yesterday for the second time this week speaking in defense of these additional tariffs. does the white house think that this is their best shot of trying to calm anxiety on wall street? >> yes and no. look. i think that larry kudlow recently joining the administration as the president's chief economic adviser really signaling this week that nothing has been enacted. i spoke with him earlier this week on thursday and he told me, hey, wait a minute. nothing's been enacted. and that this is going to be a months' long process. there's no question the president cares about television ratings but he also cares about what the market is doing. he's carefully monitoring the back and forth. look. this isn't just china raising concerns. it's also some republicans within the president's own party. senator ben sasse, calling this a stupid idea. on the flip sid

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nbc's chief white house correspondent hallie jackson has more on that part of the story. hallie. >> reporter: craig, think of everything that is on president trump's plate. not just the military action in syria, but looking ahead to next week, when he is set to meet with japanese prime minister shinzo abe about north korea and the potential talks there. the move in syria, craig, is coming at the time when the president does not have a confirmed secretary of state in place. mike pompeo went through the confirmation hearing. you have week one for the new national security adviser john bolton. several members of the national security team have left just in the past few days. this comes at a time of turnover for the president's top advisers on issues like this. there have been questions from lawmakers about the president's long-term goal or end game. you heard president trump say the goal is deterrence. he also said he would essentially sustain potential action if assad continues to attack his own people. listen. >> we are prepared to sustain this response until the syrian re

hallie jackson has more on the story. >> a white house huddled tonight. >> we have to make some decisions. they will be made fairly soon. >> u.s. officials say military options range from targeted tomahawk strikes on syrian sites, to something more wide ranging like a sustained campaign affecting military operations and multiple targets. any action retaliation against the assad regime for another suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians, including children. u.n. ambassador nikki haley with nbc's andrea mitchell. >> we definitely have enough proof. but now we just have to be thoughtful in our reaction >> reporter: nbc news learned of evidence of chlorine gas and a nerve agent in samples taken from victims according to two officials familiar with the intelligence the u.s. government is confident the syrian dictator was behind the horrific attack. >> our strategy is to engage by, with and through allies and all things we do. >> reporter: those allies include france and the u.k. where prime minister theresa may called the cabinet back to town for an emergency meeting

hallie jackson, nbc news, the white house. >>> federal officials have raided the offices and home of trump's personal lawyer, michael cohen. according to the "washington post," cohen is being investigated for potential crimes related to bank fraud and campaign finance violations. separately nbc sources say agents seized evidence related to cohen's payment of $130,000 to adult film star stormy daniels before the 2016 presidential election. a lawyer for cohen said that the search was conducted partly on a referral by special council robert mueller's office. the dow's 400-point rally in yesterday's session was nearly all erased as news of the raid emerged. tracie potts joins us from d.c there's so many moving parts to this story the big concern is whether or not this is the straw that breaks the camel's back, vis-a-vis trump and the mueller investigation, and whether or not this will lead a case on president trump's side to end up with firing mueller. in the past he said he referred to them as the most biased group of people. when asked specifically whether mueller's job was at risk, he

hallie jackson has more details on this story overnight. >> reporter: dominating discussions tonight, talks with japan's prime minister, but a different meeting that could come within weeks. >> i look forward to meeting with kim jong-un and hopefully that will be a success >> reporter: donald trump and kim jong-un face to face, maybe in may or june the president says as he confirms high-level direct talks happening now with the north korean regime. for the first time in nearly two decades. >> we've also started talking to north korea directly we have had direct talks at very high levels. extremely high levels. >> reporter: no north korean leader has ever met with a sitting u.s. president if donald trump does, it would be a major milestone, granting dictator kim jong-un the legitimacy he craves >> we have not picked the site yet. but we picked five sites where it's potentially going to be >> reporter: to pave the way, the north koreans are in talks with south korea, apparently given the green light by the u.s. >> south korea is meeting and has plans to meet with north korea to see if t

hallie jackson is with us. we heard from the pentagon a moment ago responding to questions about troops at the border. this is what they're saying. >> those are the questions we're looking to resolve right now. >> they don't have a lot of answers for a lot of the questions that are being asked of them. what is the white house telling the pentagon to do? is there a clear directive or is this an example of the president tweeting something and everybody below him trying to figure out a policy to match that tweet? >> secretary kirsten nielson was asked that verbatim, and her response was the homeland security department always had this as a possibility on the table. obviously there's ban renewed sense of urgency. but i will tell you based on my reporting, there is still a scramble going on to figure out all these pieces. i spoke with one administration official who said, listen, we have to figure out the lessons learned from operation jump start? 2006, there are still real questions about a lot of this, particularl

. >> thank you hallie jackson for that report. >>> more on the state dinner of what we can expect today for day three. let's go to tr asacie potts in washington. >> we will see president macron here on capitol hill today. the bromance on full display at the white house last night. he talked about the relationship, the friendship he has with president macron and that friendship now seems to be having an impact on policy. >> we celebrate two-and-a-half centuries between the united states and france. i ask that we raise a glass to france. may our friendship grow deeper, our kinship grow stronger, and our sacred liberties never die. god bless you, god bless france, god bless our alliance, and god bless america. >> president macron also talked about that deep friendship as a duty between the united states and france. he talked about stability between the two countries and their long-time alliance bringing up historical references. he will be here on capitol hill today talking about things like iran. >>> thank you. >>> rapper meek mill is a free man this morning. he was in prison for five mon

. >> i'm joined by hallie jackson, chief white house correspondent, leanne caldwell, capitol hill reporter, and yamiche alcindor, msnbc political analyst. hallie, how could all this go unknown and all of a sudden he's up for va and we're learning horrible stuff about him. >> is the argument sarah sanders made from the podium today is this a guy who has passed four background checks for his position inside the administration. they're arguing, hey, he's at arm's length literally with three presidents, former presidents bush, obama and donald trump now. that's sort of what they're laying out. i will tell you that the public line. privately there is acknowledgement of concern in and around the white house how it the nomination was rolled out, about how this was handled from the very beginning given that there is some concern that jackson's story wasn't fully told, that he hadn't had a chance to talk about his resume, biography, experience and credentials. i ran into ronny jackson along with kristen welker in a surprise interview. i think he was a bit taken aback to see reporters upstairs in th

hallie jackson reports on that as well as a comment he made about kim jong un. that comes up on news in about 20 minutes. >>> the city of berkley wants to cut back on waste and is targeting restaurants. >> it would force restaurants to charge customers extra if they ordered food to go. scott budman joins us at a restaurant in berkley with the story. how would this work? >> reporter: well, it would work like this. most of us have gotten food to go from a restaurant. maybe there have been items to go with it, maybe a box to hold your food, a bag to hold the whole thing, a disposable cup, all of it recyclable. they want to get rid of all of it. the city council will put forward a proposal tonight. and if it works, it would be a new law, a law that would charge restaurants 25 cents per each customer for each to-go food container and disposable cup they use. that money would go from the customer to the restaurant, so the restaurants would keep it. the goal to encourage customers to bring their own containers to cut back on pollution. >> we're hoping that by making th

nbc's chief white house correspondent hallie jackson is live there.us a little what we think the president and the nigerian president have been talking about, and then maybe a little bit about what some of the questions might be for president trump today? >> reporter: which i know is your favorite part. forgive me for peeking over my shoulder. we're getting starting here soon. we know what we've seen for example the fight against boko har haram, they are discussing, had discussed and president trump alluding to provide for security support to the nigerians something long wanted. put on hold as we look at the national security adviser john bolton sitting down in the rose garden in the front. some in discussion a little while even und are the obama administration over questions of human rights. the backdrop will be potentially a tense relationship, at least the comments that the president reportedly made he denied. chris you know what i'm talking about back in january reportedly using a vulgarity toy refer to some african nationsthat may be one of the q

happening, to say the least. >> i'll put your note in the system if you want me to. >> thank you. >> hallie jackson, nbc white house correspondent. much appreciated, hallie. i should tell you, while i've been talking about lots of things happening at once. amell dean whoo, an incredible reporter who's here with us now at nbc, has just reported that syrian state television has broken into programming. it's about 4:30 in the morning in syria right now. they're about seven hours -- they are seven hours ahead of the east coast time in the united states. syrian state tv has broken into programming and is now reporting that syrian air defense forces have launched counterstrikes against the, quote, american, french and british aggression on syria. syria does have relatively advanced air defense systems. we had been expecting that if there were manned aircraft rather than missiles or drones that were involved in a significant air attack in syria tonight or at any time that syrian air defenses would have to be part of the calculus in terms of how the attack would be structured, what the first targets would

hallie jackson with us from the white house. hallie, a lot of that briefing was focussed on ronny jackson. the white house saying they're still standing behind him. but just in the last couple minutes we found out four background checks on him but they still didn't know about this ig report or the other allegations that go back many, many, many years? >> so, i think the thread that you saw reporters trying to pull here was the idea that, sure, ronny jackson has gone through background checks in his role of high profile role, very close contact with not just president trump but past presidents as well, and you heard a couple reporters try to get at this did the white house go beyond that? what else did they do? what else did they try to do to vet ronny jackson prior to the president was a surprise tweet that sort of came out unexpectedly even to some inside the administration that jackson would be the nominee to lead the department of veterans affair. i do think what you saw from sanders was a definitive and defiant push to defen

. >> i believe we have nbc's chief white house correspondent hallie jackson joining us from the whitese with the latest. ronny jackson standing by is that right? >> reporter: i just spoke with him along with a small group of other reporters including my colleague kristin welker. forgive me if i'm out of breath. i ran from the west wing. >> thank you. >> reporter: dr. jackson was coming up, walking past an area, you know well, upper press. we had been waiting for more information regarding the allegations that i believe you've been talking about on this show, the allegations put together in a summary by democrats on the veterans affairs committee. we asked dr. jackson about this. my first question was, did you wreck a car? that is one of the allegations here, he actually wrecked a government vehicle. he said, no, that should be pretty easy to prove. he dismissed some of the other allegations against him as reporters were yelling questions. and when we pressed him on whether he will still move forward, he said we are still moving forward as planned. so, i think that says just about ever

our white house correspondent hallie jackson is traveling with the president in florida. >> reporter: dominating discussions tonight, not talks with japan's prime minister, but a different meeting that could come within weeks. >> i look forward to meeting with kim jong-un and hopefully that will be a success. >> reporter: donald trump and kim jong-un face to face, maybe in may or june the president says. as he confirms high level direct talks happening now with the north korean regime. for the first time in nearly two decades. >> we've also started talking to north korea directly. we have had direct talks at very high levels. extremely high levels. >> reporter: no north korean leader has ever met with a sitting u.s. president. if donald trump does, it would be a major milestone. granting dictator kim jong-un the legitimacy he craves. >> we have not picked the site yet. but we picked five sites where it's potentially going to be. >> reporter: to pave the way, the north koreans are in talks with south korea, apparently given the green light by the u.s. >> south korea is meeting and has

i hand you off to hallie jackson. hallie, philadelphia 76ers, nice win last night. >> i'm telling you. although i'm more of a football than a basketball fan. i'm a fan of administrative professionals day, so shout out too my mom. >>> this morning, guys, the doctor is in for now. ronnie jackson down but not out with the white house ready for a fight. they are pushing back hard on accusations the president's pick to lead the va is a bad manager, doled out drugs, drank on the job. lawmakers are raising serious questions. listen. >> if these accusations are found to be false, then i think there could be a confirmation hearing. i think if they're found to be true, i think it puts him in a world of hurt the. >> so we are following that on the hill. >>> and also on the hill as you look at the live capitol dome, we're watching for someone else, french president emmanuel macron. that's because he's addressing congress later this hour. we might get more specifics on his talks about iran, syria, trade, and climate. >>> plus, the

nbc chief white house correspondent, hallie jackson, is traveling with the president. s a new twist in the legal and political drama sur rouroun the president and michael cohen. cohen's most famous client may be president trump. but another of the people he says he represents is almost as high-profile. one of the most familiar faces on fox news. we're talking about sean hannity. after cohen revealed his so-called mystery client, hannity is pushing back on what he calls wild speculation. he says he never paid cohen legal fees but he had brief conversations about questions he had. there were gasps in the courtroom when the hannity news was revealed, in what was a dramatic day there. a crush of cameras following every move outside the courthouse. that includes appearances by stormy daniels and her lawyer. they were all at the courthouse because trump's team were fighting something. they don't want all of the materials looked at from cohen's office last week, because of the attorney client privilegprivile. the judge gave both sides the green light to see the materials. >> h

right now, hallie jackson. >>> listen, guys, cue up your menu puns because ahead of the state dinner there's plenty on the plate for emmanuel macron and donald trump. we're teeing up to that news conference next hour. their bond being put to the test a little bit, macron trying to convince the the president to stay in it, something dump doesn't want to do. there's also syria, russia's involve men, the future of the u.s. troops there and cabinet commotion. one nominee cleared for take justify, another in a will hog pattern. that's ronnie jackson with his hearing put off aurl the sudden. we've been talking with our sources overnight. for more on that we'll have it coming up the overnight, president george h.w. bush in the hospital. being treat ford a dangerous infection be

coming up now with hallie jackson. >> can we take a selfie? please go do that. great to see all of you here. hope you all ate your wheaties this morning. president trump apparently did. he talks ability what he calls a crazy stormy daniels case. his long time lawyer now taking the fifth. you know who is not keeping quiet? the president. who he is hinting about after ronnie jackson withdraws. that is not even the only cabinet chaos just this morning. you know what's happening on the hill? scott pruitt walking in moments ago. you can see him there. he might have been the luckiest man in washington as new controversies pile up. could change today. that's because pruitt is getting ready to face potentially tough questions. they say he has almost no allies left. he really only needs one. will his performance please the president? our team is here and ready to go this morning. we take a live look. i want to start with kelly at the white house. wow, a lot of news coming out this morning defentding r-- defending ronny jackson. listen. >> i want somebody that's going to

coming up right now, more news with hallie jackson. hallie. >> congratulations to tammy duckworth. chris jansson, appreciate. let's go inside the west wing this morning and donald trump's raid rage. what's being perceived as a provocative move by robert mueller. the president's ranting about the long-time move ofs had lawyers office. he's railing at the entire justice system, and he's not really being accurate about it. we'll se we'll tell you why and what's next and he's bailing on a trip to south america that had been set for friday. the white house just announced in the last hour that donald trump will stay here to fek cocn syria as we have exclusive reporting that russia's trying to mess with our military there. >>> and mark zuckerberg set to head to the hill in about two hours but is i'm sorry enough? spoiler, nope. >>> and another morning of market watch. wall street looking up 300 points, according to the dow right now, thanks to new moves by china. we have our teams set up and ready to good on this tuesday morning. let's start

hallie jackson has the latest on this. >> reporter: new allegations against ronny jackson. in documents obtained by fbs news compiled by the top democrat on the veteran affairs committee. tester says nearly two dozen and former colleagues claim jackson recklessly prescribed the drugs. that he kept questionable records for controlled substances and that he drank on the job while traveling with the president and one time wrecked a vehicle while intoxicated. >> we still have more work to do with the allegations that have been put forth in the claims and more scrutiny on his ability to handle a budget as big as the va's budget and the people under him. >> jackson in a brief interview denies any crash. >> no, i have not wrecked a car so i can tell you that. >> he adds he wants to move forrd what with his nomination and has no idea where these allegations were coming from. he told president trump the accusations were false and misleading. >> most are bad administrative practices. the controlled substances, if those were given out without a doctor patient relationship that could c

hallie jackson has the latest. good morning to you. >> reporter: hi, savannah, good morning. the white house is ready for a fight, coming out swinging this morning, framing the accusations against ronny jackson as him getting railroaded, they say, by a bitter excolleague. here on capitol hill, there's real concern. not just about the overall vetting process at the white house but about these allegations against jackson. the doctor is in, for now at least. with the white house defiant and defending ronny jackson's nomination to lead the v.a., pointing to praise president obama and pushing back on accusations against jackson. >> i think if these accusations are found to be false, yeah, there could be a confirmation hearing. i think if these accusations are found to be true, it puts him in a world of hurt. >> reporter: that's the top democrat on the veterans affair committee, saying that 20 people have accused the white house physician of creating a toxic work environment, drinking on the job and improperly prescribing medication. >> he hands out prescriptions like candy. in fact

syrian government backed by moscow denied involvement in the suspected chemical weapons attack ha hallie jacksonhe story. >> reporter: tonight, all signs point to what seems all but inevitable, a strike on syria soon. >> thank you all very much. >> reporter: on twitter, the president previewing an attack and putting russia on notice after a russian official promised moscow would shoot down any missiles aimed at syria. president trump writing get ready russia because they, the missiles, will be coming nice and new and smart. you shouldn't be partners with a gas killing animal who kills his people and enjoys it defense secretary james mattis not ready to say for sure the assad regime is behind this weekend's deadly chemical weapons attack outside damascus. >> we're still assessing the intelligence ourselves and our allies. >> reporter: but to the white house and others around the world, it's clear the syrian dictators to blame for yet another horrific poison gas attack targeting people in their homes including children rescuers working frantically to help them. >> the use of chemical weapons canno

hallie jackson wasn't sure -- >> it all gets back to me at the gym. >> i said we need to be nicer to each other. hallie said, are you going to be nice to ali? i said, yes. maybe i was lying. maybe. >>> we are digging into a major merger. >> are you a t-mobile or sprint person? >> i am not. i ham a john legere person, ceo of t-mobile. he will be the ceo if this combined merger goes through. he is certainly a flamboyant, over the top kind of guy. >> the question is, are these mergers bad for competition, or are they good because they're going to give the 800 pound gorilla a run for its money? we're going to talk about that when we come back. your money, money, money is after the break. >>> it is time for science and some amazing news. tourists could be in space by the end of this year. rich tourists. the blue origin successfully launched its third rocket on sunday. it is designed to send passengers into space on an 11-minute flight. i want to raise my hand. i want to go. >> amazon billionaire jeff bezos is behind the company. in a neck-and-neck race with others in the space, elon musk,

now i hand off to my friend hallie jackson. >> thank you much. >>> and this morning a president under pressure is hitting are the release valve on twitter trying to take down joms comey. no mention of his fired fbi director on the way out of white house, you see it there. but comey calling the president morally unfit, questioning whether he broke the law, but it's split-screen outrage for the president. on the other side you have the investigation into his long-time lawyer in courted it trying to get records seized by the fbi in last week's search thrown out. why that case may be more problematic for the president than the special counsel's investigation. >>> then we're watching russia pd. moscow promise tossing respond should they get slapped with new sanctions. warning the u.s. whatnot to do less than 72 hours after that joint strike on syria. >>> i want to get to our team who is in studio, seen yo yore fellow at brooking institute and onset our panel for the next 58 minutes, white house correspondent and national political reporter to the national post. ben, i want to get to you fi

talked to hallie jackson a couple hours ago. she asked what's changed since the last time north and south korea sat down for talks and this is part of what the ambassador said. >> two things changed. one, it's going from the top to the bottom. this time kim jong-un himself is engaged. he's the nuclear negotiator. in our case, it's always gone from the top -- from the bottom to the top, and now the president is personally engaged. my worry, we're not going to be ready and the president is impulsive and shoots from the hip, but at the same time, this is good. >> are we seeing this -- this activity because you've got donald trump in the white house, and you've got kim jong-un running north korea? is this the kind of -- is this the kind of situation only could have been created by these two characters? >> well, i don't know. i think there's another thing that changed that i would add to the table which is that north korea has acquired a serious nuclear arsenal, and a nuclear arsenal that can at least deliver within the region and po

i hand you off to hallie jackson.allie, philadelphia 76ers, nice win last night. >> i'm telling you. although i'm more of a football than a basketball fan. i'm a fan of administrative professionals day, so shout out too my mom. >>> this morning, guys, the doctor is in for now. ronnie jackson down but not out with the white house ready for a fight. they are pushing back hard on accusations the president's pick to lead the va is a bad manager,

coming up now, my friend hally jackson. i want you go to that website and buy cook is can from those girls. >> you know i love cookies and buying things from young entrepreneur women, definitely will. we'll see you in an hour. >> but this morning, listen, cue to comey stop. an untruthful flying ball in the president's world as donald trump hits twitter to snap talk his fired fbi director with james comey with words of his own saying the president's unethical and untethered to the truth and saying he's unsure whether the the most eye-popping rumor in that dossier is actually true. we've got that exclusive new interview coming up with both sides sending a message. and another message maybe from the white house that even if you lie under oath or obstruct justice you could still get a pardon. our rorgtd says that's what scooter libby can expect, the former chief of staff convicted of lying to the fbi into had the investigation of who blew the cover of a cia operative. we have that later on in the show. i want to go first to kel

right now, hallie jackson. >>> listen, guys, cue up your menu puns because ahead of the state dinner there's plenty on the plate for emmanuel macron and donald trump. we're teeing up to that news conference next hour. their bond being put to the test a little bit, macron trying to convince the the president to stay in it, something dump doesn't want to do. there's also syria, russia's involve men, the future of the u.s. troops there and cabinet commotion. one nominee cleared for take justify, another in a will hog pattern. that's ronnie jackson with his hearing put off aurl the sudden. we've been talking with our sources overnight. for more on that we'll have it coming up the overnight, president george h.w. bush in the hospital. being treat ford a dangerous infection being admitted one day after the funeral of his wife barbara. we have a lot of show to pack in but our team is here and strd go to go for us. i want to start at the white house with kristen welker. you've got this public show of friendship between presidents trump and macron with everything we've been watching unfold ov

coming up now with hallie jackson. >> can we take a selfie? please go do that. here. hope you all ate your wheaties this morning. president trump apparently did. he talks ability what he calls a crazy stormy daniels case. his l

coming up now, my friend hally jackson.i want you go to that website and buy cook is can from those girls. >> you know i love cookies and buying things from young entrepreneur women, definitely will. we'll see you in an hour. >> but this morning, listen, cue to comey stop. an untruthful flying ball in the president's world as donald trump hits twitter to snap talk his fired fbi director with james comey with words of his own saying the

coming up more news with my friend hallie jackson. >>> thank you much and good florng south florida wherehe president is at his golf course with the japanese prime minister. their summit taking a backseat to a different one. the talks between mike pompeo and kim jong-un. fis face to face, the secret's off after president trump spilled the beans in morning on twitter. we'll talk about what this means for the president's meeting with the dictator. and for our allies in the region. also brewing inside the administration, the ambassador versus the adviser. you've got larry kudlow saying sorry to nikki haley but what about the reason for the apology in the first place? the apparent flip flop on sanctions in russia. we'll get into that in a minute and we will celebrate the life of

that's what hallie jackson was talking about. she'll be there. you're watching "velshi and ruhle". we'll be back in a minute. ♪ better than anyone ♪ anyone i've ever met ♪ i'm stuck on your heart, the best just got bigger. ♪ i hang on every word you say applebee's new bigger bolder grill combos. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. gas, bloating, constipation and diarrhea can start in the colon and may be signs of an imbalance of good bacteria. only phillips' colon health has this unique combination of probiotics. it helps replenish good bacteria. get four-in-one symptom defense. ancestrydna has 5x more detail ...and it's now on sale for just $59. it can lead you on an unexpec ted journey... ...to discover your heritage. get ancestrydna for just $59. the lowest price of the year. you ok there, kurt? we're about to move. karate helps... relieve some of the house-buying... stress. at least you don't have to worry about homeowners insurance. call geico. geico... helps with... homeowners insurance? been doing it for years. i'm calling geico right now. good idea! get to know geic

right now, we'll show a little love for hallie jackson. >> thank you very much '. >>> i'll tell you what pours this morning. a floofd news coming out of washington. that breaking news that the house speaker will not run for re-election. we're going to talk about that live here from this podium any minute. why is he leaving? who's snext in and what does it mean for the president's agenda. and speaking of president, he's setting out his strategy of surprise, instead previewing the strike on syria, calling out russia, telling the kremlin to get ready. and on russia, major headlines in the investigation on moscow's interference in our

coming up more news with my friend hallie jackson. >>> thank you much and good florng south florida where right now the president is at his golf course with the japanese prime minister. their summit taking a backseat to a different one. the talks between mike pompeo and kim jong-un. fis face to face, the secret's off after president trump spilled the beans in morning on twitter. we'll talk about what this means for the president's meeting with the dictator. and for our allies in the region. also brewing inside the administration, the ambassador versus the adviser. you've got larry kudlow saying sorry to nikki haley but what about the reason for the apology in the first place? the apparent flip flop on sanctions in russia. we'll get into that in a minute and we will celebrate the life of barbara bush. for the first time since her death, her son is sharing his favorite mem rifs his mom and that famous sense of humor. >> the doctor came in and she turned to the doctor and said do you want to know why george w. is the way he is? and the doctor looked somewhat surprised and is he said because

coming up right now, i hand you down to my other friend in washington, hallie jackson. >>> thank you. see you in a bit. the theme of the day, everybody on defense this morning from here in d.c., down at the border, over to silicon valley. here's what we know, donald trump signed the order to deploy the national guard to the border with mexico. okay. here's what we don't know, details. how many troops? where are they going to go? how long will they be there? and another question mark today, one punctuating scott pruitt's memo at the epa. raising new questions about one of the controversies he's trying to clean up. >>> you know who else is in damage control mode? facebook with its privacy scandal way worse than everybody first thought. the new response from this guy, mark zuckerberg. what we may hear from the number two, cheryl samberg, exclusively with nbc. and how he may handle the testimony here in washington. we'll get to the team set up ready to go coast to coast. let's go to kristen welker live at the white house. there are so many unanswered questions when it comes to the deploym

a bunch of our other colleagues, kristen welker, and hallie jackson and peter as well with said that thele scholarship recipients. >> i know a young girl who is hispanic and works so hard in our communities and the minorities to put a foot in journalism and she text med me that she is here and i will go to give her a big hug and you and i as journalists we have to inspire young people to keep celebrating the press and be in our profession. >> and kasie said, don't do it kids, but do it. she was kidding. >> yes, do it. >> and so that is a great point to celebrate our profession, and our friends and colleagues are heading in. are you going in? >> yes. >> what are you looking forward to? >> the standup xheed ya is great, and what there are new jokes because of what we do there is always a new headline to make fun of and i am looking forward to that and looking at everybody, and having off of the cuff conversations of the people that you see on the air, and our own team and giving them a p patton back and toasting them and it is a hard, hard job to have and i want to toast them and all o

that's goodsosome good news pnd hallie jackson is in the house. >> you would do a touching dog story.ogs. >> thank you, steph. we'll see new an hour. >>> the white house back home in d.c. prepping the glitz and glam for a state dinner tomorrow, but today scrambling behind the scenes. president trump's pick to be secretary of state in limbo at least in the senate foreign relations committee fogt voevot today. they don't like mike, exactly when the u.s. needs a tough diplomat. you've got the first foreign official in the state pressy ahead of the iran deal. and we have the white house director of lenl slatetive affairs, marc short. some questions for him in just a moment. we're also going to cover the political story not a lot of people saw coming. mitt romney not locking up the gop seat in utah. instead, locking in a primary, all of it happening the same day he said he was undecided on whether to back the president in 2020. coincidence? we'll find out. >>