let's begin a the white house, with hallie jackson, hallie, look, it seems to me -- at least short term the biggest thing to clear up is what did vice president pence know and when did he know it? and at this point, when did he know it? >> reporter: we have new reporting, just in the last couple of minutes, i can share with you, this has been a question that nbc has confirmed via two sources here that vice president pence learned about this warning from the justice department, learned that mike flynn had been inconsistent or

early the next day, tuesday, captain hally formed a regiona missing person task force.what's on your white board? what's on your agenda? >> william slemp. >> reporter: the former boyfriend. >> other exboyfriends, ex-husbands. >> fam >> there had been a neighbor that lived across the street from rachael that had some suspicious behaviors. he'd ask rachael out on a date and she'd turned him down. and then he left town very abruptly. >> i mean that's certainly suspect. is he involved? >> we're c travel information. we checked every bus ticket th was sold that weekend. >> reporter: an early lead may have come when rachael talked sheriff's captain dan hally th week before. she told him that day she was terrified of the slemp guy messing with her, but the captain had a different stalki suspect in mind after rachael told him she was divorcing charles. so an early stop for investigators was charles' sho so who's the guy you met? >> easy going, you know, he wa very cordial. he's being cooperative. >> i didn't have anything to hide. what was i g here he comes, driving up. come on

the audio was a little bit muffled. >> reporter: we tried to, hallie. asked him if the president was aware of what he said to senator blumenthal. he declined to answer questions. that typically has been out how they handled things like this. k kelly ayotte has been sort of following him around, shepherding him around through these meetings. she was until recently the republican senator from new hampshire. he's in there now with senator susan collins, the first of a series of meetings that he has today on capitol hill. looks like they're going to stick to the procedures they've been using. >> go get 'em, kasie. you have 30 minutes left in the show. i hope to have you back with more later in the show. and senator baldwin here from wisconsin, we appreciate you being here. i want to start with what we were talking about with kasie. you have not had a chance yet to meet with judge gorsuch. i want to get your reaction to what's been happening. senator blumenthal said today he urged neil gorsuch to make thinks comments publicly. do you see this as a political

captain dan hally enlisted coast guard and volunteers wit specialized sonar to help.depths of the swift-moving snake have yet to surrender rachael's body. is she gone forever? >> i know we're not going to give up. >> hopefully we might still fi her remains. >> reporter: for the justice system, it's case closed. but for those rachael left behind -- >> you know, there's no true justice. doesn't bring her back. >> reporter: is there a new chapter opening up for you? >> it's just begun because whe i found out my mom was missing i fought tooth and nail, so di ashley, that's what we did. and so at this point, it feels like the fight is over. the grieving process for me ju begun because there's nothing left to fight for. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. and the russia connection. president trump thrills supporters with his attacks on the press. >> a few days ago i called the fake news the enemy of the people and they are. they are the enemy of the people. >> but could his media attacks be designed to distract attention fro

hallie? >> kristen, are we getting any reaction from inside the white house after this speech given that sean spicer came out and s said the president has respect for the judiciary? today we hear them say, i'm not calling them biased but let's see if you will. sort of hinting that maybe they were. >> no reaction yet but they continue to try to walk a fine line, hallie because, of course, you have these very strong comments coming from the president. they are trying to put the focus here on his comments about law and order. the comments he made, for example, about violent crime and his attemptto bate that. so they're straddling that line n that's going to be tricky for the press secretary sean spicer when he holds his daily briefing later on this afternoon. >> i'll see you later at the white house for that. pete williams is also with us here. you heard the president, obviously, come out about this lawsuit, about this -- >> actually, i didn't hear the president. other people here are listening

hallie? >> we can see members waiting behind you. they are waiting for the press conference. we'll dip in live to that once it begins. it seems the house speaker is running a little bit late. >> it's surprising. he's usually on time. >> over at the white house, there's a scramble to get on the same page as the president. >> general flynn does enjoy the full confidence of the president. >> the president is very loyal. he's a very loyal person. by night's end mike flynn had decided it was best to resign. he had i guess 30 phone calls with leaders at the time. since then 70 i'm told with different leaders. i'll just leave his comments at that. >> last month the justice department warned the white house that general flynn had misled them and that as a result he was vulnerable to blackmail and at that moment he stillad the cplete trust of the president? >> matt, i'm telling youhat the president has said, which is that he's accepted general flynn's resignation and he wishes him well and that we're

>> absolutely, hallie. there's been tough talk today out of tehran, the iranian defense minister said the missile launch was successful, despite claims from the u.s. said it wasn't. the adviser to the leader said this isn't the first time an inexperienced person is threatening iran and iran will continue with its missile capabilities and warned america not to make empty threats to iran saying iran was the most powerful region in the country. just recently the deputy commander of the revolutionary guard, that is the most powerful entity in this country, they call most of the shots he, he said if our enemies are frightened of our missiles, they should seek shelter and they should know that iran has a jungle of missiles full of thick trees. he went on to say if powers such as america and israel weren't so scared about iran's missiles, they wouldn't make such a big deal about it so they're fighting back very hard. there's also a sense of uncertainty in iran. i think they thought they had wrapped up the nuclear

>> i don't think so, hallie. to say, just like when president obama was president and the many same senators and the liberal media came to his defense when he was trying to get his agenda passed, this president is going to push forward with his agenda. we had an election on november 8th and the president won the election and the left still can't get over that fact. right now the white house is continuing to try to push the agenda he got elected to do. >> matt, i think you forgot something. that's the executive branch. there's a thing called the congressional arm. matt, matt, matt, one second. the issue people are taking on capitol hill, it's not just democrats. republicans are also offended by this. you have senator bob corker who was trying to make it perfectly clear, look, you might be the president but when it comes to foreign relations, you're going to have to deal with congress as well. it looked like an snl skit for a minute there. he has to be very careful about overstepping the boundaries because congress

>> good morning, hallie. preparations for the top secret raid began during the obama administration and were passed on to the trump administration, making it the first clandestine military strike of his presidency. this morning multiple military officials tell msnbc news a top target of the raid. the mission, capture or kill him. >> i think it is a successful operation by all standards. >> but today we know the high stakes gamble to capture him was not a success. he is say live in yemen according to multiple officials, who also say al-rimi taunted the white house. both the white house and the pentagon declined to comment. >> i think it would be unfair to criticize the new administration in part pause this is counterterrorism activity that is well oiled, well worn and certainly well planned. >> reporter: all of the leaders in the military chain of command agreed that the prospect of taking him out was worth the mission's risk. officials tell nbc news, secretary of defense and the charity of the joint chiefs of

let's go to hallie jackson for the update on that. hallie, what grabs us, it's almost like the show "veep" with julia louis-dreyfus. how can he put out the story that there were no conversations between michael flynn, the national security adviser, and the russian ambaador when the president knew and never told the vice president about the conversation? >> right, and that was the idea, that vice president mike pence was apparently unaware that these inconsistencies existed. i wanted to share information with you that i'm getting in the last couple minutes here from a white house official. excuse me for being out of breath from running from the west wing and looking at my ipad here, but the vice president and mike flynn spoke on friday about all of this. it was the day after the "washington post" story came out, it was the day after, now that we've learned off the record, that the vice president learned about this through media reports, likely that "washington post" report that came out thursday night. and the day after, mike flynn mod

hallie jackson is there for us. hallie? >> reporter: we expect to see president trump and prime minister trudeau any minute here. there is a lot for them to discuss. as you are aware, the prime minister of canada came out welcoming of refugees after the controversial executive order was put into place. justin trudeau posted pictures of himself welcoming refugees. that could be a wedge issue between these two leaders. they've been meeting for the last couple of hours, all as president trump is dealing with national security headlines, including questions about his national security adviser michael flynn. thin ice, hot seat, whatever you want to call it, michael flynn is in it, not just because of questions about what he discussed with the russian ambassador prior to president trump taking office, particularly these election-related sanctions against moscow, but for a number of other reasons. sources telling nbc news that president trump is disturbed by the way that flynn has handled some different situations related to natio

and interestingly, hallie, his budget calls for not touching entitlements. for years that's been a key part of the republican proposals including house speaker paul ryan. so that could create some friction with his own party. he will undoubtedly discuss all of this with the governors and then he meets with the ceos of health care companies, aetna, among others, today. humania and he's going to discuss likely what will the key pillars of his health care plan be. what's the timing of that. we're waiting to get those critical answers. he said it's going to come out sometime in march so we're inching close to that hallie. >> glen, when you talk about a budget, a lot of where a politician stands on a budget tells you how a politician stands here in washington. you wrote about this with colleagues in the times just recently, these moves, is this him trying to come in and make a splash out of his first joint address in congress tomorrow night? >> and remember, what we're talking about here is him not dictating the terms of any of this stuff. the hill is going to ha

hallie. >> kasie hunt watching it all together over on the hill.t to a quick programming note here. tonight at 6:00 eastern, israeli prime minister net in the joins greta van susteren to talk about u.n. republgulations and his meg with president trump. american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. find out how american express cards and services why pause a spontaneous moment? cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an al

for the latest, i want to bring in my colleague, hallie jackson. hallie, you actually asked white house press secretary sean spicer for more information, among other things, about that yemen raid on sunday. what did we learn about that? >> reporter: yeah, interesting because the yemen raid that happened over the weekend isn't necessarily the big driving headline of the day. there are pleasant of those, as we've been talking about all day, from foreign policy on iran, australia, mexico. this is something that came up after president trump talked about the family he had with family of chief owens, the american service member killed in that raid. there were some questions about the planning of this. as you heard from hans nichols, we wanted to find out more about what you call the tick tock. here's what sean spicer had to say. >> it's a fairly common practice for the treasury department after sanctions are put in place, to go back and to look at whether or not there needs to be specific carve-out -- >> language on theasdepartment t you are, in fact, e

hallie. >> kasie hunt, thank you much. we're sticking around in maryland in this live look at wisconsin governor scott walker. someone else who will be taking that stage is south carolina governor jim demint, president of the heritage foundation. we want to play for you some sound from kellyanne conway when she addressed this conservative gathering this last hour. >> so much is negative these days and so much is automatic, what can i found wrong in this, a bunch of troublemakers. i think if we looked at it more positively and look at all the promise and opportunity we have for this country, people feel really optimistic many places where we go. >> former senator demint joining us now. senators are thank you for being here. we're going to get to your discussions here at cpac. let's start with the news of the day, the news on the transgender rights rollback. i want to get your take broadly on this. the north carolina bathroom bill was happening, this was something heritage had come out against. what's your reaction to trump'

we expect we could learn more about that this week, hallie. >> thank you very much. in the meantime we want to talk about what else the president is doing today. this is the fist tirst time we'e the president meeting with his first national security adviser. admiral, thank you for joining us here and for your patience as well as we've been following some of this breaking news this hour. let's talk about the new national security adviser. he is somebody that you know well. he is somebody who also has a history of speaking up when he's challenged. here very famously wrote "dereliction of duty." how is that kind of attitude going to play out with the president? >> i think it will go over reasonably well with the president. what i'm a little concerned about is what happens when lieutenant general mcmaster is on a track that is in disagreement with other figures in the white house, notably steve bannon, who controversially is going to attend this first national security council principals committee meeting in the role of an actual participant. that's a brave new world and

hallie and kasie. i'm ali, that's hallie, that's kasie. kasie, let me ask you about investigations over the white house and the campaign and russia. clearly there are going to be some, but there are really different sides as to whether it should be handled by the senate or the house or an independent committee. where are we on this? >> a lot of back and forth over the weekend about these investigations into russian meddling in the u.s. election. centering around reports that the white house actually reached out to members of congress to ask them to republican members of duong ask them help rebut this story first in the "new york times" about russian officials being in contact with trump campaign officials, we should emphasize nbc's reporting slightly different than what we saw in the "new york times" report, nbc reporting there were potential contacts between trump officials and russians, although those associations with any intelligence agencies are not clear, but we heard in a pretty unusual move the vice chairman or excuse me, the chair

hallie, let's start with you. what do we know about the tone of the speech and who is the president inviting? >> reporter: all right, ali, let's break it down. tone you're talking optimistic according to white house officials who have been previewing the speech for folks here at the white house. the theme you asked about is going to be this idea of the renewal of the american spirit. it's interesting when you look at it. to contrast this with the inauguration speech. prior to that speech, remember, there were people in then the transition who were saying it's going to be all about unity, it's going to be an optimistic message. of course critics called that speech on january 20th dark. they pointed to its populous tones and the president taking shots at members of congress sitting around him on the west front of the capitol, the same minutes of congress who will be in the audience today. so it will be interesting to see how the speech plays not just out in america, al but in the room as well. as far as who will be

spicer: hold on, hallie is on number two. reporter: so the second question is on the anti-semitism comments that you referenced from the podium, the president made very clear. you said, though, that he has taken opportunities in the past. just last week, though, he had the opportunities to deliver a message to the american people about anti-semitism. he made very clear he was not anti-semitic and he was, in fact, insulted by that. but as far as a broader message to the american people, he declined to offer one. is the president comfortable with his obligation as the leader of this country to deliver that kind of broad and forceful message to americans? and if so, why didn't he do it sooner in the case of these attacks? mr. spicer: well, i think the idea, hallie, that -- he has, and i think there's a point at which he talked literally on election night about uniting this country and making sure that all americans -- and every time there's an instance, it's interesting -- i mean, i get a question, "is he going to denounce this

but first, over to nbc, hallie jackson, he is standing by at the white house. so hallie, we had this joint press conference today, the canadian prime minister, the president, i know a lot of those american reporters in the room wanted to ask about this subject of michael flynn, only a couple were called on. the question wasn't raised, but the question certainly still out there. >> reporter: sure. what happens now with national security advisor michael flynn, steve? after what has been a remarkable 72 hours of coverage. in which questions have been raised, serious questions about the role that flynn will hold in the administration moving forward. multiple sources are talking with nbc about this. both inside the west wing and sources close to the president as well who say that flynn is, call it thin ice, call it in the hot seat, whatever you want to call it. he appears to be there. i am being told by one source close to the president that any kind of firing, for example, is not eminent, it's not going to come down today. mike flynn is fine, dot, dot, dot, for now

walk us through this. >> good morning, hallie. our reporting suggests that so far sources within the government say there has been and despite what the president has had to say a vast array of officials throughout government saying that that is simply not true, the mission was not a success, the raid had not produced valuable intelligence, at least not yet. the father of the highly decorated navy seal killed in the secret raid in yemen is revealing why he declined the meet the president at dover air force base as he arrived there. "why a this the time did there have to be this stupid mission when it wasn't even barely a week into his administration? for two years prior everything was missile and drones. now all of a sudden we had to make this grand display? just five days in the trump strags administration decided to launch." >> the trump administration is going to be moving out to demonstrate something. it's not surprising we saw it in the military realm here. >> reporter: the white house has repeedly called the yemen mission a s

hallie jackson is there for us. hallie?> reporter: we expect to see president trump and prime minister trudeau any minute here. there is a lot for them to discuss. as you are aware, the prime minister of canada came out welcoming of refugees after the controversial executive order was put into place. justin trudeau posted pictures of himself welcoming refugees. that could

i'm hallie jackson, thanks for being with us. we're back again on monday with you can bet much, much, much more news. but in the meantime, a weekend nap. i toss it over to my colleague ali velshi. hi, pal. >> you have a fantastic afternoon. right now ready for battle, president trump says he's going to fight a federal court ruling that refused to reinstate his travel ban executive order. now the white house could appeal as soon as today. new concerns as you just heard over kellyanne conway. congress is now looking into whether the top trump aide violated any ethics laws. the bipartisan outrage is growing after conway urged americans to buy ivanka trump's products. >> and why the family of emmitt till, the african-american boy who was abducted and then killed after whistling to a white woman in 1975. i'm ali velshi coming to you live from new york. new reactions from president trump to a federal appeals court unanimous decision refusing to reinstate his travel ban. the president tweeting "remarkably in the entire opinion the panel

hallie, first question to you. the president is brushing off calls to president nieto and prime minister turnbull. which version of events is sean spicer using today? >> reporter: publicly from the podium at the press briefing held at the white house not long ago, you heard sean spicer characterize the call as cordial. i will tell you earlier today senior administration official acknowledged the tone, to me, was blunt, essentially, of this phone call. it did last only 25 minutes. shorter than expected. there was pushback on reports there was yelling involved or the president abruptly hung up the phone, for example. i had pool duty today, which means i go in on behalf of the white house press pool and ask the president about the tone of that conversation. it was a question that he chose to not respond to earlier when he was in a meeting with some members of congress in a meeting over trade. i think you're now seeing over on the hill, and i'm sure kasie can speak to this, a lot of praise, a lot of very kind words bei

it boosts sanctions against iran, hallie.introduced this with several colleagues on the republican side in the house. it targets those individuals who would be helpful to iran in the ballistic missile program. the ballistic missile program in violation of a u.n. resolution and under no circumstances should iran be engaged in this type of activity. >> have you had a chance, congressman, to look at has to new treasury sanctions against iran? have you been consulted on it by the administration? >> have i not but i presume without having read what's in the text that i would be supportive and i certainly commend the administration for moving forward. obviously i want to read the text but that will be made available at 10:30 by the trsury department. >> have you had consultations with the administratn about your position on iran, about your new bill. i'm trying to get a sense of what the interactions are regarding foreign policy between sort of west wing and capitol hill. >> i think there is coordination and i'm particularly please

hallie jackson has details. >> reporter: today a trump team takeover at a conservative conference. stepping out of shadows of the west wing, one of the president's most trusted advisors in a rare public appearance. >> i want to thank you for finally inviting me to cpac. >> reporter: that's controversial chief strategist steve bannon, the power behind the populist brand that propelled donald trump to victory. >> hold us accountable for what we promised. hold us accountable for delivering on what we promised. >> if you think they will give you your country back without a fight, you're sadly mistaken. every day it's going to be a fight. >> reporter: side by side with chief of staff reince priebus, both batting down reports of rifts. >> reince is in defatigable. it's low key but it's determination. >> if the party and the conservative movement are together similar to steve and i, it can't be stopped. >> reporter: despite the president's no-show a year ago, his advisers argue it's his party now. >> i would tell my three daughters and your daughters or you that the job for first female p

hallie jackson at the white house, thank you. the trump administration also unveiled its details for the sweeping plan to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. as the president's immigration policies continue to meet with resistance, activists unfurled a large banner reading "refugees welcome" today at the base of the statue of liberty. the incident now under investigation. for more on the president's deportation plan we turn to our justice correspondent, pete williams. >> reporter: the secretary of homeland security calls for vastly more aggressive enforcement of immigration laws already on the books to reduce the number of people here illegally and fulfill a central donald trump campaign pledge. >> most illegal immigrants are lower-skilled workers with less education who compete against american workers. >> reporter: as of today anyone here illegally are subject to deportations. fewer exemptions. any time undocumented migrants are picked up for any violation and their fingerprints are sent to homeland security, they could

one second, hallie. let me ask you about the dynamics here. justin trudeau had a pretty good relationship with barack obama, fair to say? >> very much. >> he is a fairly liberal politician from up north. now he's dealing with a whole different character in this white house. if you were him, if you were advising him, how does he tread into this relationship? >> i think he handled the day well. i think the ambassador has characterized, everybody has characterized it about right. neither of them were going to make this relationship resemble what mr. trudeau had with mr. obama. the tone, the substance, was what you would want. for trade, they talked about finding ways to work together. in fairness, i'm not an apologist for president trump, but he did say that's what he was elected on. if you're watching this as a politician, as a businessman, as a bureaucrat concerned about how trade agreements are negotiated going forward, i think the ambassador characterized it well from the outset, this was a positive meeting. there were questions people wanted

we get details from nbc's hallie jackson. >> president trump on attack in front of fired-up conservatives today. almost back on the campaign trail. same music -- ♪ >> same message. >> a movement the likes of which actually the world has never seen before. >> same media bashing. railing against what he calls fake news. >> a few days ago, i called the fake news the enemy of the people. and they are. >> his administration particularly upset over two reports they call false, about interactions between chief of staff reince priebus and the deputy director of the fbi. the white house today acknowledging priebus asked the fbi to knock down a story that the campaign had been in touch with russian intelligence officials. but only after, the white house says, the deputy director first told priebus the story wasn't true. >> i've talked to the top levels of the intelligence community. and they've assured me that that "new york times" story was grossly overstated. and inaccurate and totally wrong. >> priebus broke no laws by having that conversation with the fbi official. despite democratic concerns i

. >> hallie jackson is nbc news correspondent, additional reporter and and ely, hallie, first to you. what's going on at white house? >> lots of action. i just walked as the press secretary was speaking to what is happening when it comes to mike flynn. let start with general flynn that's the headline of the day. you saw the statement the president himself is evaluating what flynn's role will be moving forward. the baottom line that's the message wanted to be convey the. this evaluation is happening. i will tell you a source familiar with what's happening inside of the white house it's not what pence said to flynn as you know on television, it was what he said chief of staff priebus. whether he forgot or mislead the vice president or chief of staff, regardless, it's raising concerns. the weekend is focus on shinzo abe. today focus on trudeau. he interestingly flynn is still playing an active roll and fulfilling his role as national security adviser, greta. >> when we look at social media photo s i don't think of important matters as north korea for testing missiles. >> this is what all

just a little bit later we'll take you live to the white house to go in depth with hallie jackson about what's next. >>> now to a literal crash and grab. police say a group of thieves stole an early this morning in laurel. police are trying to figure out if it could be connected to an attempted theft in prince george's county. pat collins is live with more details about this. >> reporter: an run dal county police, prince george's county police, four police departments working on two bizarre atm robberies in the dark hours of the morning. 4:00 a.m., this exxon station in laurel, three men in this white work van ram it through a plate glass window, knock an atm off its moorings, pick up the cash machine, toss it in the van and then they take off. about an hour after that, at this bp station, three men in a white work atm here. they wrap a chain around it, attach it to the van outside and pull and pull, but they can't seem to get it to budge. now some cops come along. they see what's going on. the suspects, they see the cops. they take off. there's a chase. they say it was like a scene out

we just heard from hallie jackson there. the white house may be looking at a way of reissuing the order, changing it, trying to address some of the concerns that were raised. can you see a scenario where the white house changes this in a way that you do consider it constitutional? >> well, i doubt it. the 1965 immigration law is pretty clear that you can't discriminate based upon national origin or religion. and, you know, for good reason. the fact of the matter is, this van is making the country less safe every single day. terrorists recruiters who are having a hard time convincing people to join the cause, as isis was losing ground on a daily basis inside syria and iraq, have a pathway to rebirth because they now have evidence that their argument, that there's a war between islamic christianity is alive and well. and so if you look on terrorist recruitment websites, you will see right now postings about the muslim ban and we are less -- we are more likely to have one of these lone wolf attackers here than prior to the ban.

hallie jackson, thank you so much. let's go to msnbc chief legal koerngts ari melber and msnbc contributor charlie sykes who joins me on set. in washington news room we have democratic strategist steve mcmahon. charlie, let's start with you. there were cops in riot gear outside mitch mcconnell's luncheon today. so far the gathering of voters have been completely peaceful, but they're super angry. let's take a listen to some of what mitch mcconnell has been facing. >> the problem is obamacare is just l.a.x. >> veterans should have good health care. in fact, senator, we should all have good health care. >> i'm wondering if you will support an independent commission to investigate president trump and -- [ applause ] >> when you tell me that you're going to take care of me when i come home, no matter what my injury, you have failed, sir. >> 22 a day kill themselves. >> so, not mitch mcconnell but a number of other lawmakers facing angry town halls. when the democrats saw the tea party spring up they downplayed it and now t

hallie, that is a very interesting tid bit there. what do we know about what the president might be saying on immigration tonight? >> reporter: well, steve, i think there is still some us is spens surrounding whether or not he will issue this call to congress on putting together some kind of an immigration bill. a senior white house official tells reporters that the time is right for such a bill if there can be compromise surrounding it. and so the president apparently now still weighing whether or not he's going to in fact talk about that publicly in his speech. if he does, we expect it to come in the latter half of his remarks. this will be certainly significant and if the president went after for example marco rubio on the campaign trail. a big like that wasn't the way to go. so you've got kind of take it in smaller chunks if you will. there has been, we heard from the depu press secretary today, not on camera, buthis reiteration of the belief that the esident believed the immigration system is broken and must be fixed. this is ce

let's begin a the white house, with hallie jackson, hallie, look, it seems to me -- at least short term the biggest thing to clear up is what did vice president pence know and when did he know it? and at this point, when did he know it? >> reporter: we have new reporting, just in the last couple of minutes, i can share with you, this has been a question that nbc has confirmed via two sources here that vice president pence learned about this warning from the justice department, learned that mike flynn had been inconsistent or inaccurate with him thursday night. just before the media reports about this began to emerge. i am told that vice president then began making inquiries into what happened. obviously you know thousand unfolded over the next 72 hours. this leads to another question, of course, which is why was the vice president who was frankly the public face of this, right, going on a television, defending mike flynn very publicly, why wasn't he informed 11 days prior when president trump knew? particularly given how central the vice president has been to not just the administration

hallie? >> kerry sanders live for us in mexico city monitoring the action there. >>> with me on set is the ambassador james jones who served as u.s. ambassador to mexico under president bill clinton. thank you for joining us in washington. let's start overall on this trip. let's call it what it is. is it fair to characterize this as a make nice or a clean up the mess journey from the secretary of state here after we saw the mexican president call off his trip to the u.s., the foreign minister clearly upset as well? >> clearly the relationship between mexico and the united states is the worst it's been in 25 years. and a time when we have great cooperation with mexico both on economics, as well as national security, this is something that has to be mended. and i think both secretary tillerson and secretary kelly are the ones to deliver the message and to try to get it back on track. >> can they mend it or is this just a bandaid? >> it's a process where our two countries have to get back togeth

we get details on this from nbc's hallie jackson. ♪ money money money >> reporter: the president who'salked plenty about his money -- >> i'm really rich. >> reporter: -- now spending the taxpayers' in a new budget blueprint that's as much a political document as a financial one. >> we have to start winning wars again. >> reporter: that means a lot more money on the military, a lot less almost everywhere else. president trump wants to add $54 billion to beef up the pentagon, intelligence agencies, and homeland security. and slash the same amount to agencies like the epa and the state department. >> we are taking his words and turning them into policies and dollars. >> reporter: his new budget director emphasizes it's just an outline, but the cuts could mean less money for, say, arts programs or helping people in need overseas. >> i don't even know if the president really understands the ramifications of the cuts that are being proposed. >> reporter: right now the government spends the majority of its budget on entitlements, like medicare and social security. programs the president's pro

we get more from nbc's hallie jackson. >> reporter: tonight, ethics experts sounding the alarm about one of the latest presidential tweets. donald trump writing today, "my daughter ivanka has been treated so unfairly by nordstrom. she is a great person. always pushing me to do the right thing. terrible." it comes after the department store's decision not to buy anything this season from the ivanka trump branded fashion line. a company rep says that's due to sales, not politics, just business. a business, by the way, ivanka trump no longer runs. >> so how is she being treated unfairly if she's not a partner -- >> it's clearly a targeting of her brand. this is a direct attack on his policies and her name. >> reporter: now, new concerns about the president's focus on the family businesses he's supposed to be separated from. >> i think that he's putting the bully back in bully pulpit and it's wrong, it's unethical but also raises profound legal and even constitutional questions. >> reporter: from voters, so far, mixed reaction. >> i think it's an appropriate use of his fatherly power to

hallie? matt? the vegas odds are. >> sounds presidential. >>> let's talk about another well-known billionaire. tesla and spacex ceo, elon musk. he's been dreaming of conquering space travel. this morning, a new rocket is prepped. and if the weather cooperates, musk's team is going to take one step closer to man's travel to mars. kerry sanders is on the launchpad at kennedy space center, with exclusive access to the you're right there. >> perhaps closer than the rocket engineers. the falcon rocket is tilted down. they're doing one final check. but the countdown is under way. the plan is for this to lift off 10:01 on saturday morning. it is fitting that elon musk's dream going to mars begins with a launch here. this is the same pad that was used by the apollo missions to go to the moon. this morning, spacex engineers say they're highly confident. but it is rocket science after all. a tough reminder, last september, when one of the sp e spacex rockets blew up on the launchpad. but elon musk, a real-li

we're happy to have hallie jackson up from washington to fill in for savannah. it's like the spy who came in from the cold. >> i'm telling you, indoors for once. no scarf. no jacket. a pleasure. >> great to have you here. did you see "planet earth i"? >> i loved it. watched the series on dvd. >> they tell us "planet earth ii" has the most incredible scenes. look at this with the lizards and the snakes. >> it went viral. >> it did. there's a washington joke there somewhere. but i'm not going to make it. >>> let's get right to our top story. the white house, dealing with a series of controversies, including new questions over the trump campaign's possible tie toss russia, and the president's cabinet pick whose nomination failed. our political team is at the ready, starting with nbc's peter alexander. he's at the white house. peter, good morning to you. >> reporter: matt, good morning to you. donald trump's presidency is not even a month old, but it's already mired in a series of crisis, from the michael flynn fiasco to questions about the trump campaign's, and all

right now my friend hallie jackson has more.morning, hallie. >> right now we are talking about that staff shake-up? michael flynn's future under question. president trump being pushed by his own staff to fire his national security adviser. publicly the president is staying silent. we're taking a look at the new video showing the missile launch in north korea. we are live from the region. and within the hour president trump will welcome canadian prime minister justin trudeau, just landing in the u.s. and heading straight to the oval office. we've got our team of reporters here, christian welker at the white house, keir simmons in seoul. >> what do we know about michael flynn? >> reporter: we know he is on thin ice, hallie. a number of aides are calling for his ouster. the revelation he did discussion sanctions with the russian ambassador before president trump was sworn into office and then apparently misled the vice president about it. everyone remembers last week the vice president went out and vouched for mike flynn and said h

hallie? matt? >> kristen, thank you very much. >>> let's bring in ari melber. he has today's fact-check. there was a lot of talk about russia at the press conference. one popular comment from the president caught your eye. what did he say? what's the fact? >> that's right. as we look at the press conference, a lot of different claims. the president repeatedly turned the conversation back to hillary clinton. >> i think for russia, hillary clinton gave them 20% of our uranium. >> that claim, we can tell you, is false. clinton did not give away any american uranium. russia's energy agency bought a company that produces uranium. and that was during the period that she was secretary of state. >> another subject, the leaks. leaks versus fake news thing. one comment about leaks caught your attention. give me the fact and the fiction. >> there's different types of leaks. the president slamming disclosures of private calls with heads of state. >> i called, as you know, mexico. it was a very confidential cla

to hallie's point, she's absolutely right. his side, they love the attacks on media. what media should not do is chase this rabbit hole. willing to defend ourselves, flog ourselves. we should brush off our shoulders and go, back to mike flynn. that's what he wanted today. he threw out all kinds of stuff hoping something sticks because he wants us fighting amongst ourselves. it's not going to happen, president trump. we're going to focus on russia, period. >> let's focus on russia and mike flynn. katie, what are republicans saying behind the scenes? >> i think there's a sense that this is something president trump needs. he needs to be out there and attacking the media. it's something that makes him feel very empowered. makes him feel good. makes him feel like he's speaking to the people who elected him and still support him very strongly. it's the same reason he's going out to do a rally this weekend because he needs that response from the public. but there is frustration among republicans who feel like at some point we can't keep relitigating the campaign that our pa

hallie? >> two questions for you, sean. the issue of transgender bathrooms wasn't one we heard a lot if about from the president during the campaign. he said caitlyn jenner who use whatever bathroom she wanted at trump tower. why is this a priority? >> it's not a priority. hold on he let me answer the question. it's not a priority. there's a case pending in the supreme court which we have to decide whether or not to continue to issue guidance to the court. it's not -- it's dictated by that. we have to decide whether or not this administration wants to continue that track that the obama administration was on. it's plain and simple. if we don't, uhm, but there are problems both in the legal and process way in which that guidance was issued, and so it's incumbent upon to us actually follow the law, and to recognize the title nine never talked about this, it was enacted in 1972, there was no discussion of this back then and to assume certain elements of the law were thought of back then with respect to this would be completely