hans nichols reporting from the white house this morning. >>> let's discuss this with our reporter from business insider and senior political reporter. how would you explain the mixed messages we're now hearing from the administration? the white house is ainge that plan was floated but then ultimately rejected and now the president said he's still looking at it. why are they at odds here? >> i think that the mixed messages here reflect a lot of the internal strife going on in the white house. president trump has said immigration and border security are his key platforms. we're seeing competing factions in the white house, jockeying to, you know, be the dominant voice on immigration. what happens when you have that is that you have story that come out like with "the washington post" reported, some people in the white house saying no we're not considering it, it's, you know, down right illegal and so on and so forth. then the president, of course, tends to tout what he believes is his unilateral authority on immigration to come out and say yeah we're considering this. again whether or not

>> hans nichols at the white house. thank you, hans. >>> the president said guadalajara and el salvador may have taken money for years. the president wants to cut about $500 million in aid for those countries, and that was approved in the 2018 fiscal year. the aid is used to, quote, provide investment and partnership from the united states to promote economic opportunity and security for citizens of the region. the president wants the central american governments to stop the mass migration of refugees, but many critics say the aid actually deters migration and will help with conditions at the border. even the president's former chief of staff, john kelly, said so himself. >> if we can improve the conditi conditions in guadalajara, honduras and el salvador, we can do a lot to protect the central border. >> he said the aid given to those countries may be having an impact. el salvador and honduras both saw declines in their suicide rates. the rural farmers' sales helped lift 40% out of poverty. it helped farmers increase th

here's nbc's hans nichols. >> for a small-town mayor, pete buttigieg has big ambitions. >> they call me mayor pete. i'm a proud son of south bend, indiana, and i am running for president of the united states. >> reporter: he laid out his vision in three words -- >> the principles that will guide my campaign for president are simple enough to fit on a bumper sticker. freedom, security and democracy. >> reporter: coming home to south bend after criss-crossing the country and cable tv. if elected, he would be the youngest president, the first who is openly gay. a practicing episcopalian, he's challenging vice president mike pence both politically and spiritually. >> if you have a problem with who i am, your problem is not with me. your quarrel, sir, is with my creator. >> reporter: buttigieg arrives on the national stage with a polished resume. harvard grad, rhodes scholar, afghanistan war veteran. but with little national political experience. >> i would stack up my experience against anybody. >> reporter: mayor pete, as he likes to be called, hoping to harness the moment and celebrate

nbc's hans nichols with more.ood evening. >> reporter: for the first time, mayor pete buttigieg described in personal storms an internal war, one the 37-year-old was only able to win after he came home from serving in afghanistan. >> when i was younger, i would have done anything to not be gay. if you had offered me ald have swallowed it before you had time to give me a sip of water. if you had shown me exactly what it was inside me that made me gay, i would have cut it out with a knife. >> reporter: he went on to thank god that there was no pill, no knife. the rhodes scholar didn't come out to his parents until he was 33 and then to his constituents in 2015. the next year, buttigieg won re-election with 80%. a recent nbc news/"wall street journal" survey found that 68% of voters were comfortable with a gay presidential candidate. in some iowa polls, he's in third place. buttigieg, a practicing episcopali episcopalian, seemed to take aim at vice president mike pence saying that anyone who had a problem with who he

nbc hans nichols is live for us from the white house. carol, i want to walk through some of this reporting as we kind of sit here and wait. it's been almost a year we've been waiting to find out what mueller has been able to find. why are these white house staffers so stressed out? >> basically, k arkkasie, they' stressed out because they agreed to cooperate. they were told by the president's white house legal team to fully cooperate with the investigation. they did that, and in order to do that, the only thing to do is tell the truth and be completely forthcoming, which they did, otherwise they would put their own selves in legal jeopardy. in doing that, there are some things they had to talk about and disclose that would be potentially damaging to the president or make him look bad. and what the concern is that they are now really thinking about is are their names going to be attached to certain specific information where they are identified as the source of that information, or is it going to be something like, you know, where you can

that was hans nichols reporting. >> it might go down ashe greatest comeback in sports history. tiger woods is back on top after winning the masters, overcoming in and scandal to bring home his first major title in more than a decade. and perhaps even more amazing, he's garnered bipartisan support in washington, d.c. president trump congratulated tiger calling him a truly great chmepion. and f president obama called his win a testament to excellence, grit and determination. he also got a shout out fromte is great serena williams who said she was literally in tears watc him play. nbc's kathy park has more on tiger's return to greatness. >> here it is. the return to glory. >> reporter: tiger is back, and he did it on the biggest stage in golf. woods, winning at the masters for the fifth time. hisp first major championshi victory in nearly 1giyears, brin fans to their feet. >> tiger. tiger. >> reporter: two shots back from the leaderboard, he didn't start theay swinging, but disaster on the 12th hole for ,play after player gave tiger thece cho drived.ahea the 2008 u.s. open was his

back to you. >> all right, hans nichols for us. hans, thank you. >> a shooting in los angeles is sending shock waves through the music industry and beyond. law enforcement sources confirm that rapper nipsey hussle was shot multiple times outside his clothing store, and pronounced dead at a hospital. two other men were shot but survived. a suspect is still at large. a law enforcement source tells the l.a. times the shooting is probably gang-related, but they have not confirmed a motive. nipsey hussle's album was nominated for best album at the grammy awards. tributes have been pouring in. musician john legend said, i just spent thursday with him filming a video. he was so gifted. so proud of his home. director ava duvernay called the rapper bright and forward thinking. i'll remember the beauty he saw in our community. and steph curry of the golden state warriors said, just got to know you. rest in paradise. rapper nipsey hussle dead at age 33. >> it is the dawn of a new era in japan. the country has a new name for its new imperial e

>> all right, hans nichols at the white house. jacob, reminder here for viewers and listeners on sirius satellite radio, you sat down one-on-one with kirstjen nielsen last year. here is part of that conversation. >> you think violence is spilling over into the united states? >> along the border? absolutely. >> that's not what the dea says. >> i would be happy to look at the dea materials. >> you've said nielsen avoided inconvenient facts like we heard there. also familiar with her temporary replacement and met with his team recently as i understand it. how will his leadership be different? >> well, trump is a man in charge still, craig, and donald trump is the one who put into place that family separation policy. kirstjen nielsen was the dhs secretary at the time. kevin mcleanen the cbp commissioner. everybody here is on the same page with the ultimate goal and this was the goal since the family separation policy. number one, to indefinitely detain families. basically jail them until their asylum cases are adjudicated. second, tur

. >> joining me now from indianapolis nbc news correspondent hans nichols white house correspondent ann gurren and msnbc contributor adrienne colrod and rick tyler. so, hans, look, the white house has been relitigating don mcgahn's testimony since the mueller report came out and, obviously, the chief messenger here is the president himself. so, what is the strategy. what do they think that they can do to make sure that former counsel don mcgahn doesn't go before a congressional panel? >> they can also evoke executive privilege and work through the white house counsel office and make sure he doesn't testify in front of the house committee. the political strategy here is to talk about those no collusion and the democrats are unhinged. i'm glad you mentioned, you did steal my line, a lot of it here today. what we heard from the president is a preview of what the 2019 and 2020 campaign will look like, chris. what's interesting to me is how this president is trying to intervene in the democratic primary. you heard him seize upon the re, mas of joe biden that the boston bomber should be able

your reaction to what you just heard hans nichols lay out?ident made two wrong-headed announcements related to the border. first, cut off aid to honduras, al salvador and kuwaguatemala. be clear about this, hallie. mexico in our third largest trading partner. we do more trade with mexico than with japan and south korea and germany combined. and more, far more, five times more than we do with the united kingdom. something that closes off the border i frankly predict carries with it the peril of a recession. >> okay. i want to ask about something else making news this morning. the house judiciary committee new announcing this morning they plan to vote wednesday. happen day after tomorrow, to authorize several subpoenas including a subpoena for the mueller report. on that topic, let me start here. will your committee, the intel committee, should they, will they, also take action to subpoena mueller's report? >> chairman schiff said if that is necessary he will do that. >> do you believe that is necessary at this point? >> so let's talk about wha

hans nichols is with us. hans? >> it's james murray. he is a career secret service official. the president's press secretary sarah sanders just putting out a statement on this thanking alles for all of his service and naming the new person as james m. murray. he worked in the secret service field office here in washington, involved some tax fraud cases. looks like they're going inside the secret service to take a career official to lead this agency. a little bit of the latest reporting on why alles may have left, according to pete williams, the decision was made about 10 to 14 days ago, so before the break-in reported in mar-a-lago by that chinese national with all that computer equipment, so it looks like the departure of alles isn't related to a single event and now they have a new name and person they're going to send to capitol hill. >> hans nichols, thank you very much. >>> and up next, what should abhor fiing weekend in chicago, two dozen shot in 24 hours. ♪ ♪ i can do more to lower my a1c. because my body can still make its own insulin. and i take trulicity once a week

let's bring in nbc's hans nichols at the white house there. chuck rosenberg, msnbc contributor, former u.s. attorney. senior fbi official. and a political reporter with the "daily beast" stand by. let's listen to the president. >> -- this is 141 years that we've been doing this. i don't remember the first one, but the last three years had an awfully good time, and i have to thank our first lady. she worked so hard on this event, and without her, it would not be like it is. it's as beautiful as i've ever seen it. so, melania, thank you very much. fantastic job. thank you, honey. i also want to thank the white house historical association for the incredible job they do. they work with the first lady and all of us on just making the white house and keeping the white house a special place. it is, to me, "the" most special place. there can't be anything like it and we take it really very seriously and it's in great shape. that i can tell you. it's in great shape. also our incredible marine corps band. thank you very much. beautiful. wouldn't be the

joining me from the white house, hans nichols.heard that bolton said that all options are on the table. that has been the line from the white house. he also explicitly said that it would not be a coup for guaido to take over the venezuelan military. what is your take on bolton's decision to come out to cameras to make these statements now? >> reporter: the white house is clearly trying to put more pressure on the government of maduro to leave peacefully and have a peaceful transition. ambassador bolton came awfully close to setting a deadline for nicolas maduro to leave, that this is his last chance for a peaceful transition or else. he also had a very strong message to what he said were the 20,000 to 25,000 security forces from cuba there. seeming to say they are bolstering the regime of maduro. he is not quite fully owning saying that after tonight there could be a military invasion, there could be something from the u.s. side. he had said at several points military options are on the table. blamed external forces and had this i

hans nichols and our msnbc jacob soboroff is back with me as well and our jonathan lemire.h you, jonathan, the president is not happy to have anybody investigating him. the resolution issuing subpoenas were related and passed in the oversig oversight, 22-14. those subpoenas are coming from the white house. they want to know the process where people like jared kushner and ivanka trump. what's the process behind them getting a clearance after being denied a clearance? >> right. the security clearance issue of the white house first came to light over a year ago it was rob porter and staff secretary and questions are raised even though he's twice accused and since then we have seen other like jared kushner as you said obtained clearances of the president stepping into help make that happen and it is more than that. these are probably questions as they are and important questions. it is also a first shot from the democrats. more is coming. we know more is coming against the ongoing fight of findings of that investigation. they wanted to happen today. that does not appear to be h

first, joining us live from where the president just spoke is msnbc news correspondent hans nichols. hans, clearly this is an important part of a voting block for republicans here as he is there addressing the republican you're coalition and a guy with a couple dollars there as well. >> reporter: yeah, well, the president was in full campaign mode, richard. it's clear he warranted to hit all the points making all week. you could have skipped a week in terms of presidential news and just listened to this speech. it would have gathered and captured it all for you. namely, on the border. revigz his threat, keeping it open he may shut down the border is says i don't mind to do it. i want to but i don't mind. reserving the right to do so. and that republicans will be the party of health care it is the jewish coalition and talked about his middle east policy, victory laps on moving the embassy to jerusalem and that the golan heights are israeli territory and harshly critical of the iran deal. a lot of stuff we'd heard before. in ways today the president felt he was almost going through the

. >> joining me now, nbc news correspondent hans nichols. s in california where we will see the president next hour. here with me "washington post" political reporter phil bump. so hans, the president's going to be landing there and he's going to be talking about immigration, closing the border i guess no longer on the table. >> reporter: that part may no longer be on the table, but it's clear the president wants to keep that threat out there as he talks about and making contingent on mexico's behavior. it's clear the president wants to draw attention. he wants to focus the country's attention on this part of the border. he's landing air force one here. do you that for one reason and that is to draw media attention. he's also going to be getting a briefing behind me here from border patrol agents. we're about a mile and a half from the actual border. you can see these vehicles drive back and forth all morning. what the white house really wants to press is this idea that there is a crisis at the border. they feel that there's more -- the more

joining me now from indianapolis is nbc news correspondent hans nichols. news like there? there have been difficult stories for the nra as of late. >> they're not trickling down here. there's enthusiasm, and enthusiasm for guns across this convention and enthusiasm for president trump. but there is an acknowledgment maybe they may be short on finances. when you're look at what they are doing tomorrow to see the president you have to basically pay $10 to $40. and other gun displays, there are raffles for them. some of these guns are not even legal in florida state. you're getting a sense of how quickly this can become political and people want to fight for their gun rights. one of the questions whether or not they will see the president, to most people, they've already seen him. kasie? >> indeed. hans nichols, thank you so much for that. really appreciate it. i have covered several of those conventions. good luck down there. >>> last fall meanwhile florida passed amendment four, giving voting rights back to 1.5 million felons who served their time. as "the

nbc's hans nichols is at the white house for us. hans, good morning to you. seems as if, hans, no sign that the president is letting this thing go. of course, another tweet this morning. take us through it. >> reporter: not at all, yasmin. i don't want to disappointment house speaker nancy pelosi but i don't think the president will take down that initial tweet that started all of this friday night. the one that you mentioned he twinned. what he's saying this morning, marking an escalation akuding omar of anti-accept simple and having u.s. hate and being anti-israel, but importantly, he suggests that house speaker nancy pelosi, the duly elected speaker of the house sshs not actually the leader of her party. it's actually ilhan omar. an indication the president really wants to cause internal turmoil inside the democratic party, because he wants to really draw this out. he wants to make this a bigger issue. you've seen in the past what democrats have done with omar, a little bit of admonishment. a general resolution against anti-semitism, but different about th

. >> let's go to the white house now and nbc's hans nichols. good morning. we heard the president strike a number of familiar themes last night, including his rebuke of the mueller investigation. >> reporter: look, we had the greatest hits from the president last night. that's fairly common when he does these rallies. he likes to go offscript and do what he thinks got him to the white house in the first place, and that is talk to some of his people, talk to the people that elected him, propelled him. you did hear him talk about the witch hunt, talk about the scum at the top of the government, the 21 that were part of that mueller investigation. there's nothing really new. for the president, this was counterprogramming back in washington. the president didn't mention it. he said there's no place i'd rather be than in wisconsin on a saturday night. he did bring up his press secretary, sarah huckabee sanders. she mentioned last year she didn't get much of a welcome so she was glad to be in wisconsin. we heard the president condemning what happened in california

nbc's hans nichols joins us from the white house. president at his nra speech yesterday. do you have any insight into what happened here? >> this is a forced resignation. ollie north had his friend read the resignation from the spate spot donald trump spoke at yesterday. it was clear he wanted to stay on for another year. he had a one-year contract as president. it was also clear he was clashing with wayne lapierre, the vice president of the group. lapierre had been with the group for a long time. what this really gets at is a political shootout of the top of the guns right organization is the direction of the nra. was it about protecting second amendment rights and also firearms safety and shooting straight or was it more an overall brand and overall culture and overall lifestyle, and it wasn't simply coming an appendage of the republican party? there's also a lot of money involved. there are lawsuits taking place between what the nra is and their longtime advertising agency, which is out of arizona. they're suing them and they want

let's go live now to the white house and nbc's hans nichols. what did mnuchin say and where do we go from here? >> reporter: mnuchin says that april 23 deadline is entirely arbitrary. what you're starting to see is a concerted effort across the government on how they're going to push back against this challenge. let me read you a little bit of what mnuchin is saying, an indication really they want to take their time. he's saying, look, the implications of this is way beyond, in my mind, a congressional oversight issue and a precedent issue. the issue is i feel a responsibility that we get this right and that the irs doesn't become undermined like the nixon administration. he's saying the process needs to run its course. the democrats have refuted that argument in the past. they sent out a separate letter yesterday demanding those tax returns. that's a hard deadline, april 23rd. >> before i let you go, any idea how the white house is preparing for the release of the mueller report, which is likely tuesday? >> reporter: officially they're saying

. >>> we go to the white house and hans nichols. you're learning new details how the military may get involved? >> reporter: what the administration is considering is have the military build housing along the border. the president has been hinting at this. what's different about this plan you would have some of this ten housing to house these migrants not on military bases which had been the previous old plan but separate from that. now all of this is in the context of the president opening a new front in his immigration wars. he's not looking to open up the border. he's going inland. going to sanctuary cities and putting pressure on his political opponents. you hinted at the top but remember this is initially broken thursday night by "washington post". white house officials were quick to confirm the story this was being considered but firmly rejected in part because it wasn't legal. one official said it was so illegal and yet the president takes to twitter on friday says that he's for this, considering it. then he owns it on camera

hans nichols is live in indianapolis for a preview of that nra speech. don't think that it escaped anyone's attention that the president speaking to the nra the same day as a russian agent with ties to the organization maria butina sentenced to 18 months. what do we expect that message to be? >> reporter: we'll see if he represents maria butina or the mayor buttigieg. excuse me for speaking over the national anthem. we were told to pray for donald trump and make america great again and his plan to do that. an indication that how closely the nra and the president's political organization actually is. but talking to people here, you ask whether or not they are concerned about the democrats that will challenge donald trump, none say they are concerned, but they all say that they are worried about him not just on gun rights, but importantly continuing message we're hearing here is about the creeping threat of socialism according to many of these concert goer, concerned about t democrat economic policies. and we're expecting about 15,000 people here. one conce

hans nichols is at the white house with more. get back to greatness. what is this about? >> ordering a retreat from the nra from the state of new york maybe down south. s two separate issues going on here. one, it looks like juan lapierre has won out and a dispute about funding and spending and budgeting and it got really ugly and that resolved itself this weekend with the departure of oliver north. there is a second and perhaps more tax exempt status and incorporated in the state of new york and the ag there is filing suit against them. ifga that suit actually comes forward and it looks like the nrae is in real trouble, that a big problem for the nra and the irony in all this, stephanie, the nra was actually founded in 1871 and we learned about that when we were out there talking to them last week. the northerners could shoot straight. the civil war as a gun rights organization then. it really morphed into a more political organization. it is actually now headquartered in nfairfax, virginia. what the president wants and a safer legal a strategy would beo have them come b

hans nichols is following the developments from the white house.ere with the president and yesterday when he delivered a speech at the nra convention did you get a sense this was coming at all? >> reporter: i could tell you president trump gave no indication he was addressing a group in turmoil. but behind the scenes there had been in-fighting and as we know as of this morning, lieutenant colonel retired oliver north of iran contra fame will no longer be part of the nra. he said i'm now informed that will not happen. and this is all in the context of a fight between wayne la pierre and his title is executive vice president and oliver north and wayne la pierre and north were at odds on spending and budget priorities but both were accusing each other of misusing funds and what happened thursday night is that la pierre wrote a letter to the word according to the "wall street journal" saying that north was trying to extort him saying that north would expose financi financi financial irregularities unless la pierre resigned from the group and so he sent

hans nichols i know our team has reached out and it has only four and a half minutes. a major change inside the trump administration cabinet and julia is reporting why all this went down. >> gives us proximate cause for why the president wanted kirstjen nielsen to resign. whether the president got his new acting director kevin mcaleenan if he has buy in for family separation. if the only thing preventing president trump from reinstating family separation, that is gone. kevin mcaleenan has been the commissioner since 2018. has a law degree. so, very well versed in what is legally available and legally allowed. but if this is indication that the president wants to reinstate for separation as julia is reporting so clearly indicates, then i think we are at the beginning of another court battle. hallie. >> that makes sense. julia i know is irk withiworkin phones. let me bring in michael allen and a.b.stodder and, michael, your reaction now to julia's latest reporting. >> working for president trump on the issue that he cares the most about is a bit like riding a tiger. she'

that was hans nichols. joining me now is congress reporter with politico and chief white house correspondent with bloomberg news. thank you both for joining us this morning. sara, let start with you. "the washington post" reports that rod rosenstein not only discussed the mueller probe with president trump but reassured him he gives the investigation credibility and quote can land the plane. sara how concerning is this? >> this is something that house democrats are certainly going to be infuriated by especially after the way we saw attorney general bill barr come out of the gate after the mueller report and he was showing so much support for president trump he was using president trump's exact wording to say there was no collusion. so the democrats were already highly skeptical of the way doj has been handling the situation and to have this report come out certainly going to be driving fuel to the fire here and democrats will be seizing on this in the next several days. >> which is interesting. you hit the

let's go to nbc's hans nichols who is joining us now. what are you hearing, hans, about the white house, the preparation and anticipation of the release of this report, the redacted sense, that is. >> yeah. >> and can you confirm whether white house officials may have been briefed at least on what's coming logisticswise or what may be in part of the content of the report? >> reporter: right now the white house is not saying they have any inkling of what's in the report or the actual content. what the white house is reporting is the contents of the report has been conveyed to the counselor's office and the fact there won't be anything indicative by the president. we heard from william barr last week in testimony that he will be given no indication that the president will invoke any sort of investigative privilege. so if the white house does know about the timing of this, that may give them a little bit of a heads up. what is clear is politically they have long had a strategy on this, and that is to question the or engines of tigins of thed

thank you nbc's hans nichols and leag leigh ann caldwell. right now we have to turn to the supreme court, because it is just minutes away from hearing its highest profile case of the current term and it has to do with the upcoming census. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams live outside the supreme court. pooe pete, what is this all about? >> reporter: this is all about a decision by wilbur ross to add a question to the short form that goes to every household in the united states. the census is required by the constitution. it says every ten years, there shall be, in the words of the constitution, an actual enumeration. it determines how many seats a state gets in the house of representatives and also is used, for example, to figure out how much money states get in various federal programs, highway construction, medicaid, and so forth. now, many states led by new york, 18, exactly, sued, saying that this violates the federal law about how you get a question on the census. and the separate law said it also violates the institution, b

let's go to the white house where hans nichols is standing by. for you, what's the biggest thing you heard there from the president? he had a lot to say. >> reporter: i heard the ambiguity on the president on forced separation. he wants to claim credit for stopping the family separation, the child separation which was his policy that came out of zero tolerance, that was not the obama policy. it is true that obama had adolescents, minors, that were in detention, but those have mostly been arriving unaccompanied. the separation from the families happened under trump. we just heard him say take credit for reversing himself. so that's an indication a lot of our reporting here is that one of the reasons why that kirstjen nielsen was forced out was because she was slow walking the idea of doing forced separation again. and that's where the president's heart is. at the same time, guys, he gave us a little indication that he actually does like the policy. and this is the tension i think we're getting from the president right now. he said those cages were

nbc's hans nichols is at the white house. are our elections any more secure today than they were in 2016? >> reporter: certainly there have been changes after the awareness of what russia did. there's a working group between doj and dhs looking at how to make things more secure. the fundamental question is does the white house accept the mueller conclusion, that is it was an interference campaign, not an influence campaign. because most of the actions that you hear about from the white house are presenting russian influence. for example, in 2018, they did turn off the internet for that russian troll farm, but as of this morning, steph neaanie, we in a wait and see mode. my colleague kristen welker said they are in reviewing mode to see in anything additionally is merited. right now it seems like it's wait and see. >> is there any indications that the findings in the report are going to push congress to do more, to beef things up before election security. the first thing mentioned in the mueller report is social media, and we

. >> to get us started, nbc's hans nichols, with the president in las vegas. mariana in el paso, texas. we have eugene scott from the washington post, and john harwood, welcome to all four of you, we begin with hans as you're traveling with the president in vegas. i know the president has been up and tweeting this morning, what's on his mind? >> a lot of politics, alex, a lot of politics from the president, yesterday he tried to make it about the border, you played that sound from him, having to answer the questions about his tax returns, that new effort by house democrats trying to compel the president to do it, and now we have a new argument for the president's lawyers, it's a novel one, we shouldn't fault him for that. they seem to be suggesting the president has a first amendment right not to release his taxes. the lawyer said, it's a transparent effort by one political party to harass an official from the other party, because they dislike his politics and his speech, it seems as though they're suggesting that congressional oversight is an effort to silence

nbc's hans nichols is following that story. >> reporter: at the national rifle association there's a political fight at the very top. the first casualty, the group's president, retired lieutenant colonel oliver north. the nra's vice president today read north's departure letter. >> please know i hope to leave with you today as nra president endorsed for re-election, i'm now informed that will not happen. >> reporter: north is perhaps best known for his role in the iran contra affair. he reportedly clashed executive vice president over spending priorities and budget shortfalls. thursday night he told the board the nra was pressuring him to quit. the exeritation was simple. also in his cross hairs the long time advertising agency which has produced some of its famous ads. >> from my cold dead hands. >> reporter: and more recently tv shows hosted by north who's paid directly by acerman. north's departure a stunning development less than 24 hours after president trump addressed the group. >> i'm a champion for the second amendment and so are you. >> reporter: he said he created a crisis

. >> let's begin at the white house with hans nichols. good saturday to you, hans. first, the deadline that came and went. what's the significance of the deadline if the irs is not compliant? >> it's clear the ways and means committee is anticipating a legal challenge. think of this as yours and mine tax returns, last week it's almost as though the white house and treasury secretary was asking for an extension. that's what mnuchin seemed to be asking. now it seems like the ways and means is not granting that extension. they have given this april 23rd deadline and being clear about the section of the tax code they're using to get it. we all have to get familiar with it. it's section 6103 is the part just read. i will read you a little bit of the letter. they think the wall is on their side. the irs has failed to provide the requested return and return information despite an unambiguous legal obligation to do so. that's the house democrats and also ways and means committee think the law is on their side to get them from the president himself or the backdoor, through t

for more on this we go to nbc's hans nichols. >> reporter: for the first time mayor pete buttiegieg described in deeply personal terms a kind of internal war. one that the 37-year-old was only able to win after he came home from serving in afghanistan. >> when i was younger, i would have done anything to not be gay. if you had offered me a pill to make me straight, i would have swallowed it before you had time to give me a sip of water. if you had shown me exactly what it was inside me that made me gay, i would have cut it out with a knife. >> reporter: but he went on to thank god there was no pill, no knife. the rogue scholar didn't come out to his parents until he was 33 and his constituents in 2015. the next year he won with 80%. 68% of voters were comfortable with a gay presidential candidate. in some iowa polls he's at 30%. he seemed to take aim at mike pence saying anyone who had a problem with who he was actually has a problem with his creator. >> hans, thank you. >> after five days in captivity, an american tourist is safe again released after she was kidnapped by armed gun men after

joining me is nbc's hans nichols. hans, what is so important to the nra about this convention? >> the second amendment and what people here think is the continued assault on the second amendment. there is an acknowledgment talking to all the people here. there are a lot of guns here. people may outnumber the guns. i'm not certain about that, ali, but what you're hearing from people here is that the nra has changed because it is politics has changed. it started out as a group that was about marksmanship and making people shoot their target. this is a lifetime member of almost 30 years, scott dickerson. what does the nra mean to you? >> it's the best way to protect our gun rights. they seem to have the most pull at it and the most upstanding about it. they don't underhand the way they do it. the nra, you know, was actually made for training purposes. it wasn't a political issue in the very beginning. >> you feel like it's changed a little bit? >> it has had to change. it has had to change. they are the number one fighter, i do believe, for our gun rights. >> and we've got a presi

that's good insight from nbc's hans nichols. thank you so much, hans. >> if there's anything amusing out of this horrific policy and this horrible story, it's the homeland security secretary, i think it's a veiled jab. "i have agreed to stay on till tomorr tomorrow." she's so out of there. she's done. i don't know how else you can read that. usually people agree to stay on through a transition. she's out the door. it's hours. >> and still ahead, president trump's suggestion that jewish americans are led by netanyahu. elon omar was attacked by donald trump over the weekend and threatened with death by one of his supporters. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. plants capture co2. what if other kinds of plants captured it too? if these industrial plants had technology that captured carbon like trees we could help lower emissions. carbon capture is important technology - and experts agree. that's why we're working on ways to improve it. so plants... can be a little more... like plants. ♪ state of the art technology ma

let's begin with hans nichols at the white house. how much progress hans, let's put this of what the president's comment were into context of nato members fulfilling their long ago agreed pond upon defen commitment. >> how strong the individual members are. and number two, those countries commitment to article five. on the first part, nation spending is up. the president mentioned 7 out of 28, their gdp is going up. where it potentially being weaken by president trump. the questioning of the united states commitment to article 5. the president just wants to focus on how much countries are spending on defense, let's listen to how he had to say. >> we have seven of the 28 countries are currently current and the rest are trying to catch up. they'll catch up and some of them have no problems because they have not been paying and they have been very rich. we are looking at the 2% gdp level. at some point it is going to go higher than that and probably should be higher. >> under the president's metric is the german defense ministry wanted t

we'll begin the hour with hans nichols. he is traveling with the president in vegas. hans, lots of talk of border security. let's get to the agenda today. what is on tap today? >> reporter: the president's agenda is to raise money. he is speaking at the venetian in an effort to bring more republicans into the republican party. also make some fund raising head way. when you look at the president and what he is doing in the terms of the reelect. he is getting a lot of money from sources. a lot of sources. we can expect a greatest hits tour. that is what he will do in front of the audiences. we can expect him to talk about the strong economy. the good jobs report. he will likely repeat his claims on the border that he is sealing it down and getting his wall. on the agenda yesterday, it is clear he wants to build the wall. >> some of it is 30 feet. some of it is 15 feet. some of it is 12 feet defending on t depending on the area. if you want to climb that, it is sharp on top. if you climb that, you deserve whatever you can get. it is called anti-climb. it is a great wall.

hans nichols first is at the white house for thus morning. let's go back to the nbc news exclusive.how up thursday to testify before the house committee. he'll be there wednesday before the senate judiciary committee. help us to understand in finer detail what the doj is objecting to. >> reporter: we don't quite know because owe only have this from house democrats. house democrats certainly think there's a threat that he won't testify and the issue is going back and forth into open session and closed session. remember, when you have classified material, which some of that redacted material clearly is, you could go into closed session because members of congress have a presumption of having some security clearance. here's the issue. this is basically a protocol fight, a process fight when there's a bigger fight about the substance and this is an indication that this white house and this administration may challenge congress on a lot of these investigative hearings. william barr will be an interesting hearing. the one as a reporter i'd like to ask more questions to is rod rosenstein.

. >> hans nichols with more on the breaking news of william barr. what's behind this glitch? >> we don't know. we've heard from house democrats on this. just broke a few minutes ago. we'll have to check with the department of justice and the white house. it could, frances, be an indication of how tightly republicans are going to litigate, especially the white house. everything a democratically controlled congress is going to be asking for. they're in a fight over process here. this has to do with the house side. and it looks like william barr, the attorney general, doesn't want to testify in closed session, open session, go back and forth. it seems to be indicative of people on the side of d.o.j. and the white house to cooperate with all the investigations. as we have heard from president trump, he feels he has been exonerated and vindicated. he doesn't seem interested in cooperating with congressional committees. and listen to how he talked about the general state of how he thinks he did in the rally at green bay last night. >> it's not me. there's a movement like we've neve

>> joining us now, hans nichols. they both seemed optimistic after the meeting.y say the plan is going to cost $2 trillion. do we know frwhere the money is coming from and brk, what has is white house said sings the meeting? >> they have just said it was a productive, cooperative meeting. the president looks forward to another meeting in three weeks. i caution you on the verb cost. we don't know what they may be using to pay for this. a public, private partnership. 2 trillion is the number they got to. the president was the one that bumped it u. just to put this in con tek, you remember the 2009 stimulus package that came in around 800 billion and some thought it was too much. when you look at the last transportation bill. that was like in the 350 billion range. it's an eye popping amount for all of infrastructure, not just transportation and there's an important person we haven't heard from. that's mitch mcconnell because he's not a big fan of spending that much money on roads or bike lanes. >> this is interest iing it put people to work. profit bable for compan

our team is here with that and let's start with hans nichols at the white house and legal analyst and former federal prosecutor anita white house correspondent for politico and ken political reporter for "new york times." hans, this lawsuit accuses democrats of declaring an all-out war against president trump. what's the deal? >> this is an aggressive, offensive lawsuit by the president's personal teern attorn attorneys. we asked the white house if they're in agreeance with this. we haven't gotten word back on that. this is essentially a defensive posture. what the president's personal lawyers are trying to do is set up a ring fence around the president's old accounting firm. now, they're the accounting firm that did all kind of things for the president including his tax returns. they are trying to ring all documents according to this document. when we talked to jay sekulow he indicated this had to do with other financial documents. the basic issue here is that the trump organization doesn't control the financial documents that may be in the hands of their old accounting firm. . what

i want to go to hans nichols at the white house. hans, what more can you tell us about these proposals? in plain speak, they wanted to take migrants who were being detained and stick them in those -- put them in those sanctuary cities and release them with the idea let's cause some problems and havoc for democrats that don't support the president's immigration policies. within the united states, attacking other cities, political officials. >> reporter: in plain speak, according to one former dhs official, they have these plans and they discarded them because they're, quote, so illegal. this morning the white house seemed to be saying two things. on the one hand, they're saying this wasn't really serious, this was more of a thought exercise. at the same time, they say they had to do something because the cities on the border accepting these migrants, it was an unfair border. a white house official is saying it's totally ridiculous to say this is politically motivated. at the same time they say democrats were asking for this. democrats

hans nichols there in las vegas at the venetian for us. >>> still ahead, ready to run? we're live in youngstown, ohio as tim ryan lays out his plans to take over the white house in 2020. his message to voters coming up live. >>> but first president trump fires off a round of no collusion tweets as democrats turn up the heat on william barr. how a new court ruling could hurt their chances of having the entire mueller report released to the public. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from any one else. why accept it from your allergy pills? most pills don't finish the job because they don't relieve nasal congestion. flonase sensimist is different. it relieves all your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. it's more complete allergy relief. and all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. flonase sensimist helps block six key inflammatory substances. most pills only block one. and six is greater than one. flonase sensimist. and six is greater than one. all of you. how you live, what you love. that's what inspired us to create america's most a

i want to bring kick it off with hans nichols. a level of nonchalant but on his twitter a different story. >> i don't think it's studied indifference. what we have from the president is a conist isn't mant message, number of tweets per minute seem to be picking up. 12 this morning. what you're hearing from the white house is this tension on whether or not they want to welcome in impeachment or they think this is completely unfair. as your reporting indicates, the president thinks impeachment may help him. the tension inside the white house on this is almost played out on capitol hill, as well. have a listen to how some leading republicans also seem to be of two minds about impeachment. >> when you impeach, you often end up unwittingly strengthening the executive branch. >> nancy pelosi is not in charge of the democratic party. the radical left is in charge. i expect that there will be impeachment proceedings against president trump. >> i think the american people have had quite enough of it and it's time to movin' o. >> seems like

hans nichols is at the white house. hans, help me understand this.bling down on his really tough rhetoric while at the same time, his plan to allow asylum seekers to stay and quote/unquote dump them into sanctuary cities would actually be good for those asylum seekers. so what exactly is going on? >> there's so many tensions in what we're hearing from the white house in the official policy versus the president's twitter policy. here's where we seem to be. the white house says they were reviewing the legality of busing migrants from the border to the sanctuary cities. at the same time, and here's the crucial part, they seem to be saying this isn't the president's preferred option. just one of many options in the real task at hand is to bring congress back and to have them focus on some sort of more comprehensive solution. here's what the president tweeted just this morning. he said congress should come back to d.c. now and fix the immigration laws. now at the same time over this president's threat to bus these migrants to sanctuary cities, it's backfi

hans nichols will have the latest from the white house.gressman colin allred will join the conversation. he's ramping up conversation on the administration's plan to eliminate obamacare. "morning joe" just moments away. "morning joe" just moments away. you should be mad your neighbor always wants to hang out. and you should be mad your smart fridge is unnecessarily complicated. but you're not mad, because you have e*trade which isn't complicated. their tools make trading quicker and simpler. so you can take on the markets with confidence. don't get mad. get e*trade and start trading today. don't get mad. they're america's biopharmaceutical researchers. pursuing life-changing cures in a country that fosters innovation here, they find breakthroughs... like a way to fight cancer by arming a patient's own t-cells... because it's not just about the next breakthrough... it's all the ones after that. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short

hans nichols reported the white house is watching the events closely.esident has been briefed. venezuela's opposition leader calling for a military uprising against president nicholas maduro. we'll go back to venezuela here in a few moments. >>> facebook once again in crisis mode. we'll talk about what founder mark zuckerberg may say at his company's annual conference later today. this is msnbc. r today. this is msnbc. >>> welcome back on what will be a jam packed day for the people who want to be your next president. we're tracking candidates making stops in california, south carolina, massachusetts, d.c. and iowa. keeping our road warriors hard at work, garrett haake is in san diego where beto o'rourke will be holding a town hall. about the same time, former vice president joe biden is holding a rally in cedar rapids, iowa. mike, i'll start with you in the hawkeye state. biden's team put out a new ad this morning. it's gotten a fair amount of attention over the past few hours. what's the goal with this particular ad? >> reporter: well, craig, i've nev