nbc's hans nichols is at the white house. hans, i know you had a chance to talk with kellyanne conway about that this morning. i spoke with rudy giuliani today, who says within the last couple minutes, he believes at this point, the agreement that the president made with his legal team still stands. that the president says he won't take action on sessions. if he does, it'll be after the mueller investigation is over. >> reporter: it gives sessions a bit of a lease on life, but it is clear he is remaining in limbo. when i asked kellyanne conway this morning whether or not he had the support, sessions had the support, the confidence of president donald trump, she refused to answer. listen to how she thought jeff sessions is doing. how we feeling about mr. sessions this morning? >> oh, he's great. i talked to the attorney general yesterday. he's working hard on ms-13 gangs, the opioid crisis, immigration. they have this great initiative you probably haven't read about or covered at least. >> reporter: does that mean he still has

and tom winter as well, plus hans nichols at the white house. while we've been having this conversation, our ken dilanian has been talking to a juror in the paul manafort case. what she told him about how they decided his fate. we'll talk about that. plus, impeachment crash. president trump insisting if he is impeached, the market will tank and everyone will be very poor. really? and storm watch. the president reportedly very calm after cohen manafort had their days in court. is it the calm before the storm at the white house? and congressman in court. accused of misusing campaign funds. walked into that courtroom a short time ago. we're keeping a close eye on those proceedings there. as protesters have gathered outside the courthouse. we'll go to san diego as well in just a bit. -omar, look. [ thunder rumbles ] omar, check this out. uh, yeah, i was calling to see if you do laser hair removal. for men. notice that my hips are off the ground. [ engine revving ] and then, i'm gonna pike my hips back into downward dog. [ rhythmic tapping ] hey, the

hans nichols has more. >> reporter: investigators are trying to solve two mysteries, one on the ground and one in the air. >> oh, my god. what is happening right now? >> reporter: how did an airline ramp worker get a commercial aircraft, clear one of the busiest airports and fly more than an hour before a fiery crash? >> very unusual. it's not like we get this every day. >> reporter: government officials say 29-year-old richard russel was at the controls taking off from sea-tac airport. residents were surprised by the aerial acrobatics. russell seemed unphased. >> he needs help controlling the aircraft. >> i don't need that much. i have played video games before. >> reporter: it's owned by horizon air, part of alaska airlines. russell was a 3 1/2 year employee. >> inside the security fence, so, no security violations were committed. >> i got a lot of people that care about me. i's going to disappoint them to hear that i did this. i would like to apologize to each and every one of them. just a broken guy, got a few screws loose, i guess. >> he was followed by a pair of f-15s scrambled f

hans nichols, thank you very much. i know we'll continue to monitor that and bring you any headlines as they cross, continue to check in with hans throughout the evening here. >>> in other news, we now have more signs that the russia investigation may be closing in on the president's close friend roger stone. his associate andrew miller was held in contempt by a judge for refusing to testify. comedian and radio personality who stone claims was his back channel to wikileaks was subpoenaed by robert mueller's team and the "manhattan madam" testified before a grand jury in washington. meanwhile today the president is once again made linilignin inin. a new tweet fired off just moments ago here centering on what he calls the discredited dossier. you see that the fake news media refuses to report christopher steele's many meetings with bruce ohr and his beautiful wife. it was fusion gps that hired steele. we should say that nchlts nelly employee of fusion gps. with me now is former assistant watergate special prosecutor and m

let me bring in hans nichols, who is with us. clearly, these men had a strained relationship from the start. donald trump going after john mccain days after announcing the start of his candidacy. this dates back to july of 2015, if not before then. >> reporter: yeah, there is a lot of talk this morning about what a fighter john mccain was. with president trump, he was remarkably restrained. he never counterpunched or hit back at president trump while he was alive in the senate. there were clear policy differences and personality differences. we hashed those out this morning. there are so many policy differences and ways that mccain represented the traditional republican view, great skepticism toward russia, which wasn't shared by this president. you know, when we get back and forth on the policy, i know we talked to mark earlier this morning, and he's perhaps mccain's closest aide, almost like a son. he didn't necessarily want to turn this into mccain versus trump. but there were personality differences. the policy ones are lasti

hans nichols talking with the secretary there.sident trump announced the updated piece of the renegotiation of preliminarily part of the deal from the oval office yesterday. the changes mostly affect automakers. the rules require that at least 75% of car materials come from nafta countries, up from 62.5%, and 40% to 45% of cars be made by workers paid $16 an hour or more. i'm joined by former chief nafta negotiator. ambassador, i'm so glad you're on today because you know this issue in and out. as somebody who was so involved with nafta, you said you hoped we could get to nafta 2.0. is what the president is talking about that? did he get there? >> we have some very good provisions in it. it has the secretary of treasury noting that it is modernized and 25 years old, so it is time to modernize it. let's see what we can get as we complete the negotiations. in my view, it is essential that canada be part of this. the north america market is a $1 trillion market. mexico is our largest export destination. mexico is our second largest.

. >> hans nichols is joining me now.s we start this conversation, we are working to get some of the video and pictures of that summit. president trump is standing there with kim jong-un, smiling ear to ear. hans, what happened here? >> we know back in may the president cancelled that summit because he didn't think the north koreans were acting serious enough. this happens tsa state department is apparently going forward with their diplomacy. yesterday they announced that steve beacon a long time national security expert was going to take over and be the special envoy. diplomacy was proceeding. secretary mattis is traveling today and figure out some sort of a question to him when he gets back. what we heard from the pentagon of the entire process is a great deal of caution. north korea is not giving up near nuclear weapons. you heard from the president that a lot more optimism. officials here at the poentagon who are very suspicious. what they say here at the pentagon that they are prepared for any orders the president gi

hans nichols reports. reporter: overnight the fbi announcing they recovered the plane's black boxes and cockpit voice recorders. they are hoping it will shed new lightic in tord russel's high flying joyride. on friday he flew the 76 seat commercial ashlgt through the skies over seattle. what the hell. >> reporte after stealing the plane from sea-tac he talked to air traffic controllers while doing wild airborne stunts. >> all right. hey, pilot guy, can this thing do a back flip do you think? >> reporter: his aerial acrobatics stunning onlookers and scramblingiger jets in response. a i'm going to do try to do barrel roll. if that goes good i'm going to nose down and call it a night. >> reporter: ending in a fiery crash on an island in puget sound. he was employed by alaska air. he used a towing tractor to back the plane onto a runway. the incident reveals a troubling security gap in our nations nirports where thousands of ramp workers and mec have access to planes. zachary was shocked to learn his long time

we have hans nichols at the white house. what are we expecting in the briefing room in a few minutes? >> reporter: as you know, that briefing room can get quite contentious. we can expect that at the white house. namely, has sarah huckabee sanders had an opportunity to go to the president and ask him if he used that word, if there is any tape of it. she couldn't guarantee it yesterday. can she guarantee it today? there is an easy out for the white house, that is simply for the white house to call on the producer, the owner of those tapes, to release those tapes and clarify this record once and for all. you can expect a lot of questions on that. a host of questions on what's happening with the manafort trial, what the back and forth is in terms of the next steps, what the president is going to say, what sarah huckabee sanders is going to say. and issues from turkey to china. we have seen sanders more this month than last. they have done four press briefings. i shouldn't say that's a big deal. we are midway through august and

hans nichols in washington state.emergency in charlottesville, virginia. the city is on lockdown ahead of the one-year anniversary of those deadly white nationalist protests. all permits were denied for any protests this weekend. nbc's maya rodriguez is there with more. good morning. >> reporter: hey, good morning. yes, unite the right had polalad for a second rally in charlottesville. like you mentioned, that permit was denied. instead they planned to have a rally tomorrow in washington, d.c., at a park across from the white house. still, the city of charlottesville and the state of virginia remain under a state of emergency. multiple streets are closed off to traffic, and there is a large police presence in town this weekend. and also at the nearby university of virginia. and that's where that alt-right tiki torch march took place last year the night before the protests. this year parts of that campus are blocked off, and they are trying to prevent a repeat of that. the city's new mayor and police chief say they wil

hans nichols is near where the plane went down. what have we learned at this point?> reporter: dawn is breaking, giving investigators a second day to comb through the wreckage, looking for clues. still, so many unanswered questions. this morning, authorities wondering how this turboprop twin engine plane was stolen from seattle's international airport. >> what the [ bleep ] is he doing here. >> reporter: flying for an hour in daring fetes. scrambling fighter jets in response before going down in a fiery crash. >> all righty. hey, pilot guy, can this thing do a back flip, you think? >> what the hell. >> reporter: those familiar say the man piloting was 29-year-old robert russell. >> i have lifted a lot of bags, like a lot of bags. >> reporter: the approach to his routine in rainy days. >> ooh, a purple one. >> reporter: excite me he tried to recreate from the cockpit. >> i'm going to land it, like, a safe, safe kind of manner. >> reporter: the end of the ride, clearly on his mind. >> think i'm going to try to do a barrel roll. if that goes good, then i'll call it a ni

. >> hans nichols is at the white house. how did this come about and secondly, where is canada? >> canada is north. >> reporter: this came about three a weekend of negotiating here just a fee hundred feet of where i am standing. the u.s. trades are trying to get together and ironing out these deals. what's clear is a number of things. we heard the threat from the president to canada. there is a clear threat that a candidate does not get aboard, they'll simply go alone. t nafta as we know as an agreement to three parties with seize to exist. >> you can go to congress with a two-party agreement, agreements between the united states and mexico. what they have and proud of and they're using a lot on this conference call to describe this agreement is what they think they have a disagreement that's going to rebalance trade between the u.s. and mexico. they don't have canada and that's the key issue here. just one of the quick note, you recall the president during the campaign of 2016 before he's president went down and visited pe pena. he ended up cancelling it and they referred to ea

hans nichols, thank you very much h >>> dylan ie now a check of the forecast. good morning, dylan. >> good morning. we had se torrential rain yesterday. look at some of the video we got from littlefalls, new jersey, where we ended up seeing cars washed awa a from dealership. >> wow. >> then rushed down what now looks ke a raging river and into an overpass. it was incredible how the rain came down at rates of about 1.5 river, thatme rain ca down one 1 1/2 inches to 2 urinches. we are going to see a little bit mo rain this morning, the heaviest of it is outver eastern long island, also across eastern new england where we'll see the heaviest rain, we'll see less rain today than we saw yesterday, but with this area of low pressure out in the atlantic, will bring us some showers and storms. and if that rain comes down ally fast, w could end up seeing some brief weather again. >>> and that same system that brought all of that heavy rain to t jersey was same one that brought us some of those showers we're still dealing with those showers t developings afternoon. terps

joining me from the white house, nbc's hans nichols and former federal prosecutor for the southern district john flannery. gentlemen, welcome. hans, it seems like nobody at the white house knew this was coming. this morning when sarah huckabee sanders was asked about it, she said there is nothing imminent on the table. it kind of feels like no one in the white house knows what's happening besides donald trump. maybe, i don't know, sean hannity, who is not technically in the white house. >> watch the twitter feed, right? the president accelerated what was widely believed to be the case, that don mcgahn would be leaving if and when brett kavanaugh gets to be the next supreme court justice. the challenge for the white house is going to be to find an attorney willing to take this job given some of the challenges they may have. if the democrats do take over the house, that is a much more difficult job because, instead of planning on how to reshape the federal judiciary, which don mcgahn had a crucial role in doing, the white house counsel's office is playing defense. they are providing documents

aaron. >> hans nichols in washington state. thank you. >>> still ahead, turn to stone. robert mueller is zeroing in on roger stone's closest associates. could the walls be closing in on the president's long time friend? (honking) when your craving strikes, you need your wing nut. ( ♪ ) no one can totally satisfy a craving, quite like your wing nut. it was always our singular focus, a distinct determination. to do whatever it takes, use every possible resource. to fight cancer. and never lose sight of the patients we're fighting for. our cancer treatment specialists share the same vision. experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. specialists focused on treating cancer. using advanced technologies. and more precise treatments than before. working as hard as we can- doing all that we can- for everyone who walks through our doors. this is cancer treatment centers of america. and these are the specialists we're proud to call our own. treating cancer isn't one thing we do. it's the only thing we do. expert medicine wo

hans nichols joins me from washington state with more. what can you tell me about the individual who flew this plane? this took place last night over the course of 15 or 20 minutes. >> reporter: we know investigators know who he is. they haven't released the name yet. doesn't appear to be terrorism related. this is a remarkable story, though. how an individual is able to get through security, hijack essentially, steal an airplane, do a joy ride over the olympic mountains. it's just getting light here. you can see the first bits of light. some firefighters are coming off the islands about a mile away. they're coming off on a ferry. my colleague here just spoke to a couple of them and they said they're doing mop-up operations. there are only about 20 people that live on to this island. and this could have been much worse not only for civilian potential casualties, but when you look at the military installations in this part of the country, the puget sound, home to so many bases, navy, air force, army, and it's really a testament to how quic

let's go to hans nichols who jumped in front of a camera for us. hans, what have you heard?ent told bloomberg news in an interview sessions is safe until the midterm elections in november. i'm going to speak a little loudly here because that's marine one i believe taking off. we're here, the president did not stop and talk to reporters, but according to bloomberg, i just had an interview, sessions safe until november. i suspect that will give you some things to chew about. unless you want to talk about the other news which is he's threatening to withdraw from the w.t.o. i don't think that's quite your mood this afternoon. >> we can get to that at some point, hans. let's stick to sessions another moment. this is what lindsey graham was saying he's going to get rid of him after the mid terms. >> that's the talking point. this is one of the few issues republicans were willing to defy the president. he's doing a good job, he's our long-time colleague. we're not going to hold a confirmation hearing, don't fire him. and others like rudy giuliani counseled the president to say, loo

nbc's hans nichols has more. >> oh, my god. what is happening right now?rter: before richard russell made it into the sky in a horizon air dash eight. investigators want to know how he made it across a crowded tarmac and on to a runway. >> the dak 8 on runway 1-6 center, say your call sign. >> causing confusion in the control tower and a call to the military. >> you need to call and scramble now. >> yeah, we are. >> reporter: with a fair of f-15s on his tail, russell stayed airborne for more than an hour before dying in a fiery crash. his flight reveals a troubling security gap at our nation's airports where thousands of ramp workers and mechanics have the same broad access russell had. >> for me the biggest red flag is that this this something that aviation security is not designed to prevent. >> reporter: making an insider attack one of the biggest potential threats to commercial aviation. >> we're fortunate in the sense that it wasn't an terrorist, somebody who was focused on causing mass destruction. what this incident did was demonstrate a vulnerabili

hans nichols is over there. all of this is coming out as the president is talking about the exit of the top white house lawyer. another opening in that counsel's office here and a little bit of news on that from the president, right? >> the president just tweeted saying seeming to take credit for the decision, saying it was his decision to have don mcgahn leave and it was his control, a president trying to assert control over a flurry of events that's difficult for any one person to be in control. hallie, you spoke to rudy giuliani last night. when you look at what he's saying, it's clear he's trying to try this whole thing in the court of public opinion. they don't necessarily have a legal strategy. they have a political strategy. they want to counter the report bit by bit for public consumption. here's what he told you obviously impeachment comes up but it's not something on our mind right now. we talk about impeachment from the point of view, what are the steps we can take now to try to avoid it and feed it?

nbc's hans nichols explains. >> what is happening right now? >> reporter: before richard russell made it into the sky, investigators want to know how he made it across a crowded tarmac and onto a runway at seattle's sea-tac airport. causing confusion in the control tower and a call to the military. >> you need to call and scramble now. >> we are. >> reporter: with a pair of f-15s on his tail, russell stayed airborne for nearly an hour before dying in a fiery crash. his flight reveals a troubling security gap where thousands of ramp workers and mechanics have the same broad access that russell had. >> for me, the biggest red flag is that this is something that aviation security is not designed to prevent. >> reporter: making an insider attack one of the biggest potential threats to commercial aviation. >> we are fortunate in the sense that it wasn't a terrorist, somebody focused on causing mass destruction. what this incident did was demonstrate a vulnerability that is still existing here almost 17 years after 9/11. >> reporter: as investigators

hans nichols is over at the white house, ken dilanyan in the washington bureau. epic news week and the president is talking about all of this in this interview? >> he's making a nonmarvel argument that what he pled to is in fact not a crime. the president of the united states isn't the ar bitter of that. it's judges and prosecutors that decide and a jury that decides whether or not something is a crime. also in that interview, you had a frank admission from the president that he made the payments. he's trying to clarify things and make sure this wasn't a campaign violation but listen to what he had to say and we'll come back on the back end. >> he made the deals. and by the way, he pled to two counts that aren't a crime, which nobody understands. i watched a number of shows. sometimes you get pretty good information by watching shows. those two counts aren't even a crime. they weren't campaign finance. >> did you know about the payments? >> later on i knew. later on. but you have to understand, what he did and they weren't taken out of campaign finance, that's a

hans nichols is there to give us a deeper look. hans? >> reporter: we're learning more about the life and the passions of richard russell and just how many friends he had. at the same time, investigators are still trying to determine how he crossed a busy tarmac and made it all the way on to runway 16-c before taking off. >> oh, my god. what is happening right now? >> reporter: before richard russell made it into the sky, investigators want to know how he made it across a crowded tarmac and on to a runway at seattle's c-tac airport. >> who is dash 8 holding on runway? >> reporter: causing confusion in the control tower and a call to the military. >> you need to call and scramble now. >> yeah, we are. >> reporter: a pair of f-15s on his tail, russell stayed airborne for more than an hour before dying in a fiery crash. his flight reveals a troubling security gap, where thousands of ramp workers and mechanics have the same broad access russell had. >> for me the biggest red flag is that this is something that aviation security is not design

hans nichols is is there to give us a deeper look. hans? >> rep learning more about the life and passions of richard russell and how many friends he had, at the me time investigators are still trying to determine how he crossed a a busy tarma made it all the way onto runway 16 c before taking off. >> oh, my god. what is happening rr:ht now? >> r before richard russell made it into the sky in a horizon air dash 8, investigators want tw how he made it across a crowded tarmac onto a runway at seattle c tack aport. >>> causing confusion in the control tower, and a call to t military. with a pair of f-15s on his tail, rsell stayed airborne for more than an hour before dying in a faiiery crash. thousands of ramp workers and mechanics have the sameroad access russell had. >> for me the biggest red flag is that this is something that aviation security is not designed to prevent. >> reporter: making an insidern attackf the biggest potential threats to commercial aviation.te >> we're fortun the sense that it wasn't a terrorist, somebody who was focus

we get more from hans nichol r orter: tonight, investigators are trying t solve two mysteries. one on the ground and one in the air. >>eh, my god. what is happening right now? >> reporter: how did a ramper worker comman an aircraft and fly for more t n an hour before a fiery crash? y unusual. it's not like we get this every day. >> reporter: government official also familiar with the investigation say 29-year-hard russell was at the controls, taking off from irsea-tacrt 8:00 p.m. last night. residents here were shocked b the turbo prop's aerial acrobatics. but russell seemed unfazed. >> he just nds some help controlling his aircraft. >> very good. nah, i mean, i don't need that much help. i've played video games before. >> reporter: the 76 seat turbo prop is onowned by hor air. the company says russell wallace a 3 1/2 year employee,wa in uniform and authorized to be in that part of the airpor>> t is inside the security fence and so no security viotions were committed. >> i've got a lot of people that care about me. and it's gonna disappoint them. to hear that i did this. i woul

>> hans nichols at the white house. a lot of moving parts from the white house and from the federal court in southern manhattan and from court in alexandria, virginia. joining me now, former new york congresswoman who voted to in peach president nixon. her new book is out this october. also with us, former u.s. attorney and senior fbi official chuck rosenberg and important to note, liz, you were also a district attorney. a lot of ground being covered here. to giuliani's comments about they have nothing on donald trump, it sort of belies something, even those of us who are not lawyers understand how a case like this is built. it's built from the outside in, from the ground up. >> from the ground up. put up or shut up. the fact that mueller has returned 32 indictments or gotten guilty pleas. individuals and three companies. we don't know whether it's trump being investigated by mueller. mueller brought these charges against russian agents and russian military officers. we don't know what other russian agents, russian mili

joining me now from the white house is nbc news' hans nichols. hans, this explanation seems a little strange given that the president does nothing but tweet and he's -- he can be described as erratic in his tweeting. it seems highly politicized. >> well, it's politicized but it's also those who have criticized him. this doesn't fall along straight party lines. of those six, seven other names, michael hayden a republican but very critical of the trump administration. of course jim comey was a republican, he's now said he's a democrat. so there are a couple of republicans on there. to me the most interesting one from let's say the enemies list side of things, those people who are on warning, on notice that their security credentials could be, their access could be revoked, bruce ohr is a sitting member of the department of justice, answers to jeff sessions who answers to the president. he is talking about revoking the security of members of his own administration that have authorities, have warrants to carry out their job. now they have less of an a

. >> i want to bring in nbc's hans nichols at the white house. hans, tell us specifically how the white house administration is pushing back on all of this. and what the tone is like inside the white house. you got over 300 people who went to bed last night and woke up this morning saying to themselves, am i working for a guy that there may be tapes of using the n-word? >> this morning, stephanie, it's studious silence from the president. he's up and tweeting. nothing from omarosa. trying to change the conversation about elections and victories that he thinks his party had and that he thinks he had in his effect. you heard the white house try to shift the conversation about the job growth from the african-american community. >> but they lied -- >> let's listen to the claim from sarah huckabee sanders. >> this president since he took office in the year and a half that he's been here has created 700,000 new jobs for african-americans. when president obama left eight years in office, he only arrested 195,000 for african-americans. president trump in

nbc's hans nichols joins us from sea-tac airport with the very latest.ght, saying they recovered the data recorder at the crash site. this incident revealing potentially troubling security lapses at our nation's airports. namely, the threat of an insider attack. how did 29-year-old richard russell, without a pilot's license, didn't have authorization to fly, how was he able to get a twin engine aircraft across the tarmac, onto the runway, and take off before crashing an hour later? overnight the fbi announcing they have recovered the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders. they hope that the black boxes will shed new light on what led to richard russell's high flying joy ride. on friday russell flew the 76-seat commercial aircraft through the skies over seattle. >> what the hell. >> reporter: after stealing the plane from sea-tac, one of the country's busiest airports, he talked to air traffic controllers while doing wild, airborne stunts. >> all right. pilot guy, can this do a backflip, do you think? >> reporter: his aerial acrobatics stunning

nbc's hans nichols is at the white house. joining me is ali velshi. so, hans, the president today had a bit of a problem getting the president of mexico on the phone and that does highlight that there did seem to be a little bit of a disconnect with the leaders at least when it comes to what they are going to call the deal. the president wanted to rename the whole thing to take ownership of it. but enrique pena nieto was calling it nafta? >> yeah. if they are having a debate about the semantics, that's an indication that there could be more difficult negotiations around the corner when canada gets involved. here is the thing. president trump can say that nafta is dead. nafta is not dead until there is a superceding trade authority. to have that you need not only the approval of the united states congress, you need the approval of the legislatures in canada. that's up from 62%. there need to be a certain number of employees that make $16 an hour. that doesn't though factor into all of the labor and health care and retirement costs that a lot of u.s. com

nbc's hans nichols joins us from the pentagon. hans, first, it was on, and now it is delayed.be cancelled? what are you hearing? where does this stand? >> we're hearing the decision rests across the river. i just spoke to an official here saying, look, they're looking to the white house for guidance. all this back and forth, it's always been clear the pentagon would do what the president would ask, but they were going to give him options and give him costs. now, as that $92 million figure we heard from secretary mattis last night, and he's traveling in south america, he seemed to cast doubt that $92 million was the actual price tag. >> i received no -- i haven't received estimates of $92 million. whoever told you that is probably smoking something legal in my state but not most stats.s >> reporter: we know from the d.c. mayor that security and such for protests, figuring out how this would go down, could be around $21 million to $22 million. that's the firmest number we have. again, the pentagon doing what the president is asking, and it looks like this is, if not de y delayed

hans nichols is near the scene where the plane went down. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to au. right behind mut a mile away is ketron island. that's where the plane crashed. it was a fiery scene. a lot of questions tonight about just how this happe ad what security measures might be put in placeo make sure it doesn't happen again. smoke rising overnight from a small remote island o the coast of seattle after a hijacked horizon airlines plane slammed into t ground. this after a wild scene in the >> hey, you think about landing this successfully? give me a job as a pilot? >>. >> reporter: jovial and strange mords from a man who had stolen an airplane f the sea-tac airport. >> what the [ bleep ] is he doing over here? >> flying around, and -- >> what is happening right now? >> he needs help controlling hit airc >> no, i mean, i don't need that much help. i played some video games before. orter: officials say a ground service agent employed by horizon, part of alaskan airlines, somehow stole this urbo-prop aircraft with seats. he was t

nbc's hans nichols has more.ke >> reporter: s rising overnight from a small remote island off the coastseattle after a hijacked horizon airlines plane slammed into the ground. this after a wild scene in the air. >> ynk if i land this successfully, i'll get a job as alo >> reporter: jovial and strange words from a w manho hadan stol airplane from washington's sea-tac airlines. >> it's an alaska airlines q-500. what the [ bleep ] is he doing over here >> he's flying around. he needs help controlling his eercraft. >> no, i don't that much help. i've played video games before. >> reporte a ground service agent employed by horizon which is part of alaskanli as somehow stole this turbo prop aircraft with 76 he was able to take off. flying for 15 minutesefore that fiery crash. >> that is not a drone. that's a plane. >> reporter: stunned onlookers as the pilot attempted stunts in the air. o fighter jets scrambled to get by his side. the whole time, air traffic control which was in contact with the pilot tried to cokes hidown. >> we or just trying to find a place for you to land safely. >> repor

i want to bring in my colleague hans nichols at the white house. all right, hans, the president held nothing back last night. he also wasn't afraid to tell more whoppers of lies. what was it? was it just a rally? was it a show? or is this all about the midterms? >> well what you see, stephanie, the president doing in these rallies is really focus grouping some of these messages and try doing get feedback from the audience of what works. i think what we heard from the president was this idea he could really intervene in the justice department. that's the strongest he has said that. the other news we had from the president last night was the idea that sessions has until november so there's a very clear deadline for jeff sessions to potentially start looking for a new job. and you also had them expound further in that interview with bloomberg and the oval office of his views on impeachment and the president of the u.s. does not believe he can be impeached because in his view, he is doing a good job. the facts might portray that. there's a new poll out

hans nichols has been following this story all more. >> reporter: investigators combing through the crashite and looking for physical evidence. in so many ways, there are so many internal questions. this morning, authorities still wandering how this engine plane was stolen from seattle's international airport. >> what the [ bleep ] he is doing over here? >> reporter: flown over an hour in daring feats and scrambling fighter jets in response before going down in a fiery crash. >> reporter: government officials familiar with the investigation say the man piloting the plane was 29-year-old richard russell, a ground service agent for horizon air. >> i lift a lot of bags. >> reporter: russell posting video from the job on youtube, a light-hearted approach to his routine in rainy days. >> ew. a purple one! >> reporter: but also the joys of travel. excitement he may have tried to re-create from the cockpit with his own untrained hands at the controls. but the end of his ride clearly on his mind. his brazen one way trip serious flaws in the airport and for the parent company to acknowledge the cu

let's go to hans nichols. >> we know the president has cycled through his private lawyers and the question is when will he start circle lieu the white house lawyers. anytime you talk to administration officials or white house officials they're always very praise worthy of the work that sessions is doing on ms13 on a whole host of criminal justice reforms. i just caught up this morning with kellyanne conway, here's what he has to say. how are we feeling about mr. sessions this morning? >> well, actually, he's working very hard on ms13 averting crisis. and they've got this great new initiative, you probably have read about it. >> reporter: so, does that mean he still has the president's confidence? he's done great work at the doj. >> i'm not sure, i couldn't hear the very end of that. what did she say? >> reporter: she started off saying he's the attorney general and talking about the good work he is doing. the important thing about that sense, chris, it's all in the present tense. we also have the president up and tweeting blaming the fake news media knocking about the monotonous sources ag

hans nichols is on duty this morning at the white house. it was a significant moment yesterday when the press secretary couldn't guarantee there's no recording of the president using the "n" word. tell us about the ongoing kwa fallout. >> reporter: we've seen steady silence. no one is talking. there's not opportunity or effort to engage with the press. the president isn't in the west wing yet. in a lot of ways, kristen, this feels like when the michael wolfe book came out in january of 2018. there are a lot of anecdotes out there. the white house is playing defense, trying to stay within the lane of not trying to question and disprove everyone, especially those anecdotes that they aren't in a position to affirmatively disprove. it is a difficult position for the white house. it is a challenge. every day, as you mentioned, there is a trickle, and there is a question on whether or not there are potentially more tapes. the interesting thing about the audio tapes, and you and i know this because of the medium we work in, they're different than

nbc's hans nichols is at the white house for us. >> we know the president is tweeting a big deal with mexico is looking good. suggesting they've all been completed that deal with the mexico side of the negotiations. just a few blocks from here there's a delegation from mexico. negotiating with the u.s. side. trying to hammer out these differences. let's be clear about what this deal doesn't do if indeed there isn't one, which nbc has not confirmed it aside from that presidential tweet. it doesn't do anything with canada. canada still would need to agree to this deal and there could be separate negotiations with the canadians. the prime minister there has been clear he won't sign on to anything. so you need to get the third party involved. and it's also clear at least from what we're hearing about this deal is that it's nothing what trump had promised his base. that is that mexico would pay for the wall. there are no indications that is part of this deal. one of the reasons trump was driving such a hard bargain was he's insistent that this wall. whether or not new factories are going t

let's go live to the white house and nanbc's hans nichols. how is the white house countering all these challenges and criticisms, in fact what some people are saying isn't even really an agreement? >> it's hard to address criticisms when you're doing as many victory laps as the swhus doi white house is doing. touting what they say is a pro-free trade deal. they say we'll have more trade on this. as that direct criticism, that you'll see auto prices raised, they say that's not up to them, that's up to auto companies. what they really think they got is the numbers. you have 75 authori% up from 62. and then more parts of cars will have to be made by workers making $16 an hour. in general, chris, when you're in a negotiation, you want to be very tight about the specifics you share because that gives the other side an indication of what's important to you. so now the canadians know what's really important to the u.s. side. and from the president last night, you heard a clear warning to canada that they could be left behind. >> i think with canada

hans nichols covering the story from seattle, washington. thank you very much. >>> happening in bedminster, new jersey, the president using twitter once again to attack the attorney general. we will get to all of these stories. those plus the campaign on hold here from the gentleman from the 27th district in new york in just a moment with jeff bennet. he covers the white house for us at nbc news. jeff, let's start with the tweets. we don't do it with every tweet the president sends, but we've seen over the last few weeks the president attacking his attorney general more directly. he did it once again in a tweet today. i should say the weather in new jersey is bad, and when the weather is bad the president is unable to do what he does on vacation. he is not out golfing but he is out tweeting. take apart the two tweets we saw invoking the attorney general of the united states. >> reporter: the president in a tweet attacks what he calls the fake news media for failing to report on the dossier. this is, of course, the work of christopher steele

following all the action from the white house is nbc news' hans nichols.his article from "the washington post" which has 26 separate sources is that all those around the president or key people around the president think that there's a likelihood the democrats will take the house in november at which point there is a list of things that will happen, subpoenas, possibly even an impeachment move, and that the president is neither taking this seriously nor prepared to handle it strategically if he did take it seriously. >> reporter: well, he's planning to deal with it on his own terms. for this president that means twitter. you've seen this very public response from the president and heard it from rudy giuliani talking to hallie jackson saying they plan to challenge any mu mueller report by refuting the report. that's not a legal strategy, that's a pr strategy. this morning as you mentioned we've had a lot of media criticism from the president. but in trying mcgahn's departure, he forced his own white house to clean up what he said. when he seemed to be sugge

hans nichols joins us with more on this story. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. it is still not clear if richard russell had formal flight training. but during the joyride he said he'd played video game simulators. we did know he was able to get a complicated aircraft off the ground before being stopped. when richard russell pulled a horizon aircraft, it wasn't obvious he was breaking protocol. he had a so-called blue badge giving him one of the highest security clearances. >> he was able to then take a taxiway that was on the north end of the airport, go across that in a short period, get on our center runway and head south and out. >> reporter: on friday, russell took control of a q-400 turbo prop. by the time air traffic control spotted him, it was too late. >> aircraft on charlie lining up one way 1-6 center. >> reporter: seven minutes later, he responded. >> i'm a grounds service agent. i don't know what that is. >> reporter: once airborne, the 29-year-old ran into trouble. >> man, shoot. i'm sorry about this. i feel like one of my engines are going out or s

nbc's hans nichols joins the latest. good morning. >> good morning, hoda.hat data flight recorder. this whole incident rais oubling questions and really tyveals a major vulnerability in aviation secu you have richard russell. he's 29 years old, he doesn't have a pilot's license, he certainly doesn't have access to uthorization to fly. he has access, and it's a question of how he got the plane off the ground, flying it for an hour before crashing an hour later. overnight, the fbi announcing they have recovered the plane's flight dat and cockpit voice recordts. they hope the block boxes will shed new light on what led to richard russell's -fhiing joyride. on friday, russell flew this 7060 commercial aircraft through the skies over seattle. >> what the hell. >> after stealing the plane from sea-tac, one of the busiest airports, he talked to air traffic controllers while doing wild airborne stunts. >> pilot guy, can this thing do a backflip, you think? >> his aerial acrobatics unning onlookers. and scramblinget fighter in response. >> what should i do? a barrel

nbc's hans nichols, thank you so much. >>> james stavridis, did you make it through pensacola?only about 1,000 times. but the major event in my life in pensacola, joe, was when the navy sent me down there to see if i would be capable of being a fighter pilot, like maverick in "top gun." after about the third time i lost my lunch doing barrel rolls, it was clear i would be a destroyer officer and drive ships. >> so then you were familiar with trader johns and the rest of the culture down there. yeah. >> i will buy you a beer at the monkey bar at the museum next time we're both there. >> i look forward to that very soon. admiral james stavridis, thank you so much. >>> still ahead, the money man from the trump organization has been granted immunity in the michael cohen probe. you know, everybody says it seems every week there's a development that will be huge. but this is very, very significant in the investigation. robert mueller's investigation. and in a lot of other investigations is, too. we're going to be talking about what that's going to mean for donald trump and the invest