thank you for the time. >>> we'll turn to jeff bennett at the white house this morning with the latest. jeff, we're waiting for a fuller briefer from the pentagon this morning. what's the white house saying in the wake of the statement that the president made last night and the wake of the statements took place? what is the white house saying about steps forward? >> reporter: that's the big question. democratic and republican lawmakers want to get a sense of the broader strategy for the months ahead. to give you a sense of what lead to the speech we saw last night from president trump, we understand that administration officials rushed to really formulate a response after it became clear that french president mack -- macron was prepared to act. and then from there that's how they arrived, more or less, at the speech we saw the president give last night. a speech, by the way, required careful calibration. remember it was just ten days ago that president trump called for the swift removal of u.s. troops from syria once the mission to defeat islamic state militants was secured. that all c

>> jeff bennett at the white house for us, thank you. >>> it was reporting on a caravan of hundreds ofigrants traveling through mexico that caught president trump's attention and figured into his decision to call up the national guard to the border. as hundreds of those soldiers are sent down to texas and arizona, we sent nbc's reporter to mexico to report on the migrant group. >> reporter: katherine is teaching her 1-year-old daughter ashley how to walk in this makeshift shelter in puebla two hours outside mexico city. do you want to get to the united states? "i want to arrive in the united states because i want to give my daughter a better future." they are among the roughly 600 migrants caravanning here in the hopes of making it to the u.s. border. president trump called the caravan dangerous. almost all hondurans the migrants have been traveling for over 600 miles. these are the people mostly parents and children president trump has cited as the reason to send up to 4,000 troops to the u.s. southern border. legal seminars are being conducted throughout the day here given by volunte

jeff bennett is live, but let's begin with gadi schwartz. we spoke about an hour ago. we understood those high grants wading to make their way. what is the latest there? >> reporter: right now the caravan is making its way by bus over the shelleders to gather their belongition before he head to the port of entry. a lot of these families started with a lot of belongings. after a month on the road, including a hairoing days on the back of a train, many have lost most of their belongings and money. others are ma'am san ysidro crossing is one of the busiest ports of entry in the entire world. so it's still unclear how this is going to work. the caravan has about 100 or 150 people or so hoping to speak to i.c.e. agents and claim asylum. however, the last few days we have seen the plaza filled with other immigrants who are trying to claim asylum as well. we're not sure if they're going to be told to wait in mexico, wait their turn, or maybe they might be fast-tracked n lawyers say they have vr right to turn themselves in and to ask for asyl asylum. they are taking an issue w

jeff bennett has the story. >> reporter: in a saturday morning twitter tirade, president trump blastse new york times" after the paper ran a story suggesting the president's long-time personal attorney and fixer, michael cohen, might be willing to cooperate with federal investigators. "the new york times" and a third-rate reporter are going out of their way to destroy michael cohen and his relationship with me, in the hope that he will flip. "the times" says cohen's unyielding loyalty might be lagging after years of trump treating him poorly with insults, dismissive statements, and at least twice of threats of being fired. the president adds, most people will flip if the government lets them out of trouble. i don't see michael doing that, despite the horrible witch-hunt and the dishonest media. so what accounts for the president's fury? if presented with an opportunity to limit prosecution against himself, michael cohen just might tell federal prosecutors whatever they want to hear wp. >> reporter: the fbi raided cohen's office and residences earlier this month, looking for evidence o

nbc news white house correspondent jeff bennett is in west palm beach, and garrett haake is actually outside the office of senator mark warner, virginia senator warner, expected to be meeting with mike pompeo in a few minutes. garrett, to you in a minute. jeff, start with you. best we can gather here, this was essentially a meeting between pompeo and un. a meeting about a meeting. how are the folks at the white house responding to this criticism that pompeo's having a meeting like this essentially as the nation's top diplomat before even being confirmed? >> reporter: yes. a good point. right? white house officials make the point mike pompeo is likely the only person, craig, in the trump administration in a position of leadership and trust who could also carry out a mission like this and they say that the meeting itself is in many ways noteworthy. in many ways a victory in the sense it's been nearly 20 years since someone on the level of mike pompeo, a u.s. official of his stature met with a northern korean leader. that said, beneath the surface, white house officials are rushing, wor

weaver just another player in the tribal battle. >> joining me is jeff bennett. n sirilli is also with us. jeff, first of all, just about the president as attitude toward this book. how much do you think this is weighing on president trump, as he awaits the publication tuesday or this interview scheduled tonight? >> well, just from the eight tweets alone, david, you can get a sense of the president's rage, the fact that he is seething over this. we know, based on the early excerpts from the book that james comey paints an unflattering picture of the

jeff bennett is here in west palm beach with me. jeff, we actually want to start with garrett first who's got senator bob corker as a critical piece of this puzzle. >> for con jwe'll see what happ committee. >> reporter: what do you need to hear from the committee on this briefing today on syria? what questions do you have? >> i have a hearing that started 60 minutes ago, so too many to layout here. >> what do you make of the white house rolling back sanctions that -- >> a little confusing, sounded like to me. >> senator, do you have a reaction to that decision by the white house to not go forward if the sanction that is the ambassador was talking about? >> if you catch me at lunch or something like that, i might. >> sorry about that. that's sort of how it goes sometimes. you heard from senator corker, essentially three nonanswers on the three big topics. not sure yet whether director pompeo is going to have the support he need this this committee to be reported out favorably. he could still pass on the floor. no comment yet on the a

jeff bennett covers the white house and joins us from west palm beach, florida. we also have toluse. we were just having a conversation with jen kerns and phillipe rienz about the lawsuit. the president has weighed in on twitter about that lawsuit, about the 2016 election. the president writes, so funny. the democrats have sued the republicans for winning. now he r's counter and force them to turn over a treasure trove of material including servers and e-mails. so a bit more concisely saying what he said in that earlier tweet about what might come out of discovery. give us a sense of what the president's been up to here on what is the second to last day of his trip down to florida. >> hey, david, well he has no public schedule. i can tell you this morning he was sort of shuttled off to golf. the intent, we assume, was to get in a round of golf before the funeral for former first lady barbara bush began. so on his way to the golf course is when he fired off those tweets about that "new york times" story, suggesting that michael cohen might flip on him. i know we'l

nbc white house correspondent jeff bennett has more. jeff, as weekends go, as mornings go, lots to talk about where you're standing. >> reporter: that's right. another sunday, another presidential tweet storm. the president sent out about 8 tweets already this morning, many of which are filled with unproven assertions, most of which i think can be characterized as full throated attack on comey, as he is set to embark on media blitz which tanl taints many in the inner circle. the book isn't out, it is available to journalists and political watchers, all of us who have been voraciously reading it and looking for details. in the book, comey compares the president's behavior to that of a mafia boss, explains time explaining his decisions regarding the clinton investigation in days before the 2016 election. read you two sentences from the book, read the president's tweet about comey's thoughts. i assumed from polling that hillary clinton was going to win. i asked myself many times since if i was influenced by the assumption. i don't know. the

jeff bennett at the white house. thanks, jeff. >>> now the other top head line we're watching are those u.s.-led strikes on syria. nbc's chief global correspondent bill neely is in beirut, lebanon, with more on that. bill, do we know how effective the strikes were in actually taking out assad's chemical weapons capabilities? that's the question one or two days after, isn't it? >> reporter: absolutely right, richard. that is the question. obviously they were tactically effective because they destroyed three targets that they were meant to hit, but how many other chemical weapons facilities are out there? how much of a deterrent effect, you know, will they be? as i've been saying for the last couple of days, bombing is not a strategy, so what is america's strategy for chemical weapons and in syria in the future? and just when you thought the tensions maybe after those air strikes were dropping, president putin has warned today that if there are any other air strikes, any further air strikes that it could cause global ch

and next, our jeff bennett at the white house standing by. jeff, the president tweeting about last night's attack, at least one tweet that is getting international attention for a couple of interesting words he uses mission impossible -- mission accomplished, i'm sorry. >> reporter: that's right, the president apparently is declaring mission accomplished following the strikes in syria over night. that is inviting immediate comparisons to george president bush's earlier and misplaced optimism about the invasion of iraq in 2003. here are the tweets. a perfectly executed strike last night thank you to france and united kingdom for their wisdom and power of their fine military. mission about accomplishing. there's the phrase. he follows that up so proud of our great military after the fully approved dollars, the finest that our country has ever had. there won't be anything or anyone even close. the words to when president bush declared the operations in iraq. the president as he talks about the very specific targeted strikes overnight apparently

. >> and you look defeated and i want to talk to you about it, but we just got jeff bennett at the white, what is going on in the white house right now? what is the news, what is the chatter, is the president talking when firing jeff mueller? -- bob mueller. >> reporter: here is the thing. as we know, aer are sarah sand that she was advised that the president does have the authority to do just that. and as pete williams pointed out the courts have never been clear about this very issue and i spoke with some conservative thinkers and they say that the framers permitted a formidable blanc branch. so even there is a regulation that says only the attorney general can fire the special counsel, they say that the constitution supersedes any regulation. and this person told me he had been advising the white house about this. and wouldn't say anything beyond that. >> so you got the source, sarah huckabee sanders's source. >> potentially. but as you can imagine, this is all sort of fast moving here. and so that is the thing that we're trying to get more reporting on. >> i understand that. and it h

joining me now is jeff bennett, live at the white house. jeff? there's one thing in particular about the white house response so far that is notable. given that the president yesterday would not rule out getting rid of robert mueller. in the past the white house has been quick to dismiss any talk of firing mueller. they usually put out statements saying that out of respect for the special counsel's work, it pledges its full cooperation and doesn't respond. this time, sanders says the president's comments stand on their own. keep in mind the state of play here. it's important. president trump's lawyer being raided by the fbi. his former national security adviser, michael flynn, pleaded guilty. paul manafort, the former campaign chairman has now been indicted. jared kushner, the president's son-in-law is facing a certain kind of scrutiny and now the president is the subject of a federal investigation. this is the broader backdrop as the president considers voluntarily agreeing to an interview with robert mueller to say nothing about the ongoing con

jeff bennett, our white house correspondent, joins us now. we were speaking with your good colleague, monica alba, just moments ago. she was filling in what she knew and what the white house was saying in reaction to this. there is, of course, the tweet that came from president trump. what are you seeing and hearing? enchs we have not seen the president today. he sent out a couple tweets, and he tweeted -- fire at trump tower, confined. firemen and women did a great job. thank you. remember, melania trump, and barron trump spent the first few months of the presidency living there in trump tower. we understand their penthouse occupation the first top several floors of that building, and they stayed behind so barron could finish up the school year. he attended a prep school on the upper west sigh. they didn't move to the white house until lair two summers ago, actually at this point. we understand that the president -- i think he's already left for dinner here in washington. the first lady ease spokesperson tells us that melania trump and their

our white house correspondent jeff bennett is cover president trump's trip to florida. jeff?'re so thrilled. >> reporter: i'm using my golf voice, considering the event here that is happening behind me. yes, the president is ostensibly going to talk about the benefits of the republican tax cuts. you'll remember just a couple of weeks ago at a previous tax cut roundtable he held up his prepared remarks, threw them aside and said they were boring. this is an establishment crowd -- >> forgive me, jeff. i think we're going to listen to president trump for a moment. >> it will be simple and easy to do, and very importantly, you're going any a lot of money left over from what you have. and we didn't get one democrat to vote for us. and senator nelson was hostile to it. and let me tell you, if nor any reason they get in, meaning the democrats, they're going to raise your taxes, they're going to terminate this. of course i'll veto it. but eventually they want to terminate and raise your taxes. and we cannot let that happen, because this country is starting to rock with our businesses

jeff bennett has more on that. good afternoon, what more did the president say about this? >> reporter: always great to see you. appears the president is looking to assign blame for the bungled confirmation process of ronny jackson to serve as veteran's affairs secretary. the president is targeting the montana senator john tester using him as the fall guy. why? tester is the top democrat on the senate committee that was charged with handling the confirmation process for jackson. it was tester who brought to light the allegations that jackson loosely prescribed pan medications, that he was intoxicated while on the job. and that he did things to contribute to a hostile work environment. now, the white house has produced its own documents. its own information, which it says exonerates jackson against those allegations. and the president today was tweeting on that topic. here's what he wrote. he says this, the allegations made by senator john tester against admiral/dr. ron jackson are proving false. the secret service deny any of the phony democrat charges which had absolutely

jeff bennett covers the white house for nbc and jeff, this has been a strong response here from the president to this attack. what are white house officials saying? >> well, it certainly is a strong rhetorical response. president trump leveling what is his most direct criticism yet at russian president vladimir putin. president trump saying that putin bears responsibility for this apparent deadly chemical weapons attack in syria. the president is also pinning plame for this situation on former president barack obama's syria policies. remember in the summer of 2013, obama said that syria had crossed a red line then by using chemicals weapons against its own civilians but failed to follow up with air strikes. the state department, david, is also weighing in on this with this statement -- "these reports, if confirmed, are horrifying and demand an immediate response by the international community. the united states continues to use all efforts available to hold those who use chemical weapons, in syria and otherwise, accountable." now white house homeland security advisor tom bossert said the pres

jeff bennett, we're starting with you because on a did i when the focus is on national security and what the president may do next in syria, in the last couple minutes we saw john bolton walk into the white house and the cabinet meeting coming up at 11:30, lots to discuss, right? >> yes, and a lot of action at the white house. to giva a sense of where we are, you've got president trump leveling his most direct criticism at russian vladimir putin saying russia bears responsibility for this latest atrocity in syria. the state reports demand an immediate response by the international community and to that end we should mention that the president stoke e spoke yesterday with emmanuel macron and we're told the two agree to coordinate a strong joint response. the big question is what will that response look like? now defense secretary jim mattis was asked about this earlier this morning. he says all options are on the table. take a look. >> first thing we have to look at is why a chemical weapon is still being used at all when russia was the framework here in removing all the chemical weapons.

. >> let's get started with our team of reporters and analysts, jeff bennett is at the white house, anne garrett is a white house correspondent with t"the washington post". tell me if you read this differently, but the president just then said that dr. jackson seemed to be given a whole lot of room to bow out of this nomination process, saying he wouldn't want this for anybody, he's a good man, he wouldn't want to deal with anybody, it's disgusting, he's ultimately going to make his own decision. >> reporter: i read that the same way as you, katie. >> i think we're having an issue with jeff. let's go over to garrett. >> reporter: we can make this argument that jackson was being unfairly maligned by the press and he made this argument also that democrats were targeting ronnie jackson because they had previously tried to derail the confirmation of the secretary of state. you got the sense that the president was trying to make the case that ronnie jackson was one of the finest men he ever met, but the president was in many ways giving jackson the opportunity to step aside if he saw fit. let

. >> let's go to nbc news white house correspondent jeff bennett with a good saturday morning to you jeff. it seems to be all the buzz right now, what's the latest on this front? >> well good morning, alex. at the moment scott pruitt still has a job in the administration. and that's of course despite his ina ability to stay out of the headlines as these damaging ethics reports fire up. so top white house aides, including chief of staff john kelly are said to be encouraging the president to make a change atop the epa. but the president is apparently reluck tanlt to do it. in part because he likes scottp. now mr. trump sheer at the white house today with no events on his public schedule. so if recent history is a guide, we could hear from him on twitter on two main topics, the tariff battle with china and illegal immigration. now that texas is now the first state heeding the call of the president following his surprise announcement this past week to deploy troops to the southern border to fight illegal immigration. and drug trafficking. this morning, 250 members of the texas national gu

jeff bennett, thank you for your time tonight.iate it. >>> still to come, things at the border with mexico are coming to a head. we're back after this. i'm making my ideas real. with godaddy you can get a website to sell online. and it will look good. i made my own way. now it's time to make yours. ♪ everything is working just like it should ♪ but zzzquil is different have pain medicine because why would you take a pain medicine when all you want is good sleep? zzzquil: a non-habit forming sleep-aid that's not for pain, just for sleep. dray, when he was younger, he loved to smile; and we knew he would need braces because his teeth were coming in funny. this is the picture that was on the front page of the newspaper. all you can notice is the braces! then, once he got to michigan state, he broke the retainer! my bottom teeth, they were really crooked, and i just wasn't getting braces again. then i discovered smiledirectclub. it's easy to just grab it and go and i can change it on the road. i did photoshoots with my aligners in and

. >> i want to bring in nbc's jeff bennett who is with the president in west palm beach. jeff, this is a very big deal. how is the administration now getting ready for the summit? >> reporter: good morning, stephanie. i think the fact that president trump sent his cia director to meet with kim jong-un directly on un's own turf is just one indication that the administration is trying to prepare for these talks in a real and responsible way, scrambling really since the president seems to have caught nearly everyone off guard when he announced the potential for these talks last month. now just yesterday at mar-a-lago the president seemed to have a hard time keeping some of these details secret. he signaled that there were in fact high-level talks happening. this is well before "the washington post" broke the news that it was in fact pompeo who went over. he also says that the u.s. is looking at five sites, potential locations, for this sit-down to happen. this of course is one of the things that the president is talking about with japanese prime minister shinzo abe. the two a

. >> for details and analysis joining me now, nbc white house correspondent jeff bennett, and jeremy peters from "the new york times." welcome to all three of you. jeff in west palm beach, not a far from where the president is saying. the president firing off new comments today about north korea. let's get to the meat of what he's saying. >> reporter: hey there, alex. the president sent out two seemingly contradictory tweets. i'll read part of the first one for you. he says, wow, we haven't given up anything, and they have agreed to denuclearization. so great for world, site closure and no more testing. then about 15 minutes later, the president sent out another tweet tempering his enthusiasm a bit. he says this, we're a long way from conclusion on north korea, maybe things will work out, maybe they won't. only time will tell, but the work i'm doing now should have been done a long time ago. we should point out the announcement from the north koreans did not include a pledge of denuclearization when they said they would, in fact, suspend testing of some nuclear missiles and longer ran

jeff bennett is live at the white house this afternoon. let's start with this. what's the status of those deployments right now? >> reporter: hey, great to see you. texas is the first state to heed the president's call following what was really a surprise announcement this past week to deploy up to 4,000 troops to the southern border to stop illegal border crossings and drug trafficking. you've got texas deploying 250 guardsmen, arizona says it's sending another 150. new mexico is on board, as well. but those three states are all led by republican governors. california, the big blue state which really is at the forefront of the anti-trump resistance movement, california hasn't made a decision yet. and the president's critics say this latest immigration push is in many ways a solution that's looking for a problem. that the picture he paints of crime and people overrunning the border is a manufactured crisis aimed at ginning up his supporters. you've got california governor jerry brown, he's been silent about there so far even though california did participate in

jonathan swan for axios, and jeff bennett, white house correspondent for nbc news. there a danger in trump being trump and simply waving the banner of populism and anger and resentment, all the elements that got him elected in 2016 in the electoral college? how does that clash with a sort of on-the-ground effort by republicans to hold their seats? susan? >> republicans are trailing in fundraising in a big way for these -- in these house contests. and the energy level among democrats is very high. it doesn't mean the democrats are without problems. they could have divisions. we're going to see that next week in the ohio primary for governor where the energy is in the democratic party. but t there are places where trump will do some good for republican candidates. but there are a lot of places in this country where he is going to cause perhaps a lot of heartburn. >> jonathan, where is he going to be a problem? >> well, there are a lot of these swing districts, house districts in california, up the east coast where the members of congress don't want trump anywhere near

jeff bennett in west palm beach, florida. eugene, let me just have you react to what you've soon this morning. the ink hardly dry on the pulitzer prize. calling her out on twitter, seemingly, evidently very worried about michael cohen who faced a storm of legal trouble two weeks ago. >> if the president is as innocent as he says he is, there's absolutely nothing to worry about. you can't flip on someone if you have act absolutely nothing to flip. but he seems really concerned about the integrity the investigation. the report in "the new york times" didn't paint trump in the most favorable light in terms of how he treats people he works with and people in his inner circle. and so he's pushing back not only on the idea that something wrong was done, but also on his own reputation and the perception of how he deals with people he claims to be working closely with. >> these raids happened just about two weeks ago. there's a lot of speculation about what he might have, if there's tapes of conversations he had with the president an

abc's jeff bennett with more from the white house. >> reporter: president trump ripping the latest report that he and his chief of staff john kelly are at a breaking point. tweeting story on john kelly, isn't true. just another hit job. repeated threats to quit and fading white house influence. while the president publicly defends him -- >> i think general kelly has done a really great job. >> reporter: he's frustrated with kelly. mr. trump considered firing kelly last month and weigh essentially acting as his own chief of staff. >> you cannot run the white house the way the way you run 26th trump tower. >> reporter: while kelly's future appears in question, epa chief scott pruitt seems safe for now, despite escalating ethics scandal. so far, the president has pruitt's back. >> scott has done a fantastic job. i think he's a fantastic person. >> reporter: all this as the president gets ready to welcome a trio of new hard-line advisers who will help guide u.s. to approach hot spots around the world. >> including john bolton, mike pompeo and gina haspel. all this ahead of president trump's s

nbc's jeff bennett has more from the white house. >> reporter: president trump ripping the latest report that he and his chief of staff john kelly are at a breaking point. tweeting, story on john kelly isn't true. just another hit job. blasting the washington post reporting on kelly's clashes, repeated threats to quit and fading white house influence. while the president publicly defends him -- >> i think general kelsey doing a great job. >> reporter: privately he's frustrated by kelly's attempts to bring order to a free wheeling west wing. mr. trump considered firing kelly last month and weighed essentially acting as his own chief of staff. three people familiar tell nbc news. >> you cannot run the white house the way you run the 26th floor of trump tower, and that's the lesson of the first year of this presidency. >> reporter: while kelly's future appears in question, epa chief scott pruitt seems safe for now. despite escalating ethics scandals over pricey travel and his 24/7 security detail. so far, the president has pruitt's back. >> scott has done a fantastic job. i think he's a fan

. >> ambassador christopher hill, and nbc's jeff bennett, thanks very much. frank is stinging around for us. >>> will scott pruitt be fired? if the president's tweet is an indicator, he has no need to work. how he's defending the ep aft chief and the $50 a day condo that he rented, up next. ♪ applebee's to go. order online and get $10 off $30. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. you might or joints.hing for your heart... order online and get $10 off $30. but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brain-health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember. if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months, ... with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab m

jeff bennett at the white house. let's start with hans nichols at the pentagon. hans, as it's daylight, coming to the end of the day until syria. there's been some chance to evaluate what's going on. we know the syrians have taken journalists around to show them zach. what is the pentagon saying about it? >> pentagon saying they had limited objectives and they achieved those limited objectives. think of it research facility, production and production of chemical weapons. they tried the strikes, self-identified strikes not to have any civilian casualties. that's why they kept it limited. they'll acknowledge, ali, even with all that was set up, they have been eliminated the ability to deploy them on the battlefield. what they're saying he can reconstitute it but they think bashar al assad will think twice. this is about deterrence and upholding international norms. in terms of armaments they did have about 105 cruise missiles that shot from all kinds of platforms including a virginia class submarine there. and they had buy-in as well as real action from the french

. >> jeff bennett it he white house. >>> and i'm jo ugh about i a former spokesperson to the mission to the u.n. and a former spokesperson for the treasury department. and the response that we have seen thus far. >> you know, it's no surprise that they took this attack directly on the heels of trump announcing a true pullout, and he's -- last week the leaders of russia, turkey and iransh assad is feeling like he's the one in control and power, and he has a carte blanche. i don't blame him for feeling like that. there are reasons for that, dating back to the obama administration, starting with president obama saying we wouldn't interveer militarily, followed by not enforcing the red line with the first attack, and certainly with trump not following through on the attacks of last years, assad feels like he can do what he wants. >> what's the role of the international community. you have at the united nations and something you hear time and time again, either this wasn't committed by the syrian government, purposely by the rebels themselves. throat a lot of commentary about verifying th

joining me to discuss all this, nbc news white house corners jeff bennett, and lauren zelt and make mcabe. jeff, start with you. is there anything new in the president's tweets on mexico and what's the reaction from congress so far from what you've been hearing? >> hey there. i think there is something. look, previously the president threatened to shut down the government over the daca issue, but now he's suggesting that prospects for a deal are done. of course, the big consequence of that, if the white house and congress aren't able to work together to enshrine daca protections into law, it means the fate of the so-called dreamers remains unresolved and they continue to live in limbo, as they say, in the shadows. two things account for this. one, the negotiations over on capitol hill about daca have stalled and the president, people close to him tell us, is trying to head democrats off at the pass here. trying to pin tblame on them before democrats are able to pin the blame on him in the 2018 midterms if months go by, and there's still no daca deal in place. yasmin? >> so we're hearing j

. >> joining me is jeff bennett. kevin sirilli is also with us. jeff, first of all, just about the president as attitude toward this book. how much do you think this is weighing on president trump, as he awaits the publication tuesday or this interview scheduled tonight? >> well, just from the eight tweets alone, david, you can get a sense of the president's rage, the fact that he is seething over this. we know, based on the early excerpts from the book that james comey paints an unflattering picture of the and his inner circle. he suggests that the president is daft, out of his depth, he points to the meeting that he had with the president, where the president says in many ways asked him for a loyalty pledge, a pledge that comey refused to give. anticipation for this book is high. we know it's a best-seller based on pre-orders alone, so the president, who is among other things very media savvy, knows that james comey is going to dominate the headlines. in many ways he's trying to cut him off at the pass here. today the tweets and comments from sar

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hans nichols, the latest from the pentagon, jeff bennett at the white house. we'll go straight to the white house first to get the reflection of what we were hearing from ambassador haley. this was an unsuccessful move by russia, they called the meeting. how is the white house responding to today's events so far? >> to give you a sense of the overall white house response, we just heard in the last hour from vice president mike pence. he's attending the summit on the americas, the trip that president trump was supposed to attend but cancelled last week when it became clear there would be some sort of military action in syria, the white house didn't want the president overseas while that unfolded in syria. so the president stayed here and what you heard mike pence echo is some of what we've been hearing from senior administration officials, that the missile strike in syria was meant to serve as a strong deterrent for assad to never again use chemical weapons against his own people. can you see sort of the contours of a rhetorical pressure taking place here. you

. >> i want to go back to jeff bennett right now who has been keeping an eye on what the white house's response has been. the picture you were painting is that there is a coordinated response. you have mike pence in lima, peru, where president trump was supposed to be, you have nikki haley. they're talking about something accomplished that is a much bigger problem than the chemical weapons attacks. >> that's right. president trump is supposed to be at the summit of americas through sunday night but a senior administration official tells us one of the reasons that trip was cancelled was because they knew this military action was coming and they didn't want the president overseas while it was happening. but to your earlier point, yes, the vice president is singing out of the same hymn book as the senior administration officials in just the last hour. here is the vice president again. he's taking questions now, ali. >> okay. >> in a sustained way that syria understands there will be a price to pay if they ever use chemical weapons again. we carefully examined the possibility of a response

. >> we have full coverage today for you from the top stories from white house correspondent jeff bennett and rodriguez and alexi from axios and npr and i'll talk to castro coming up. let's head to the white house for reaction. jeff, another good day to you on this sunday. what can you tell us? >> president trump responded using what is his favorite me megaphone twitter to level the most direct criticism yet. president trump says putin bears responsibility for that deadly chemical weapons attack in syria. the president says many dead including women and children making it completely inaccessib inaccessible. big price to pay. another humanitarian disaster for no reason whatsoever. sick, if president obama had crossed his stated red line in the sand, the syrian disaster would have ended long ago. animal assad would have been history. and the president is pointing out there that back in august 2013, former president obama said that syria had crossed a red line by using chemical weapons against its own people and that he would be seeking congressional authorization for any air strikes but tha

secretary top two sources telling our nbc news kol leelgs jeff bennett and casey hunt that jackson issenior white house officials about perhaps taking his name out of the nomination process. and one source says a decision about jackson's future could come as early as tonight or tomorrow. that gets your attention. "the washington post" was first to report on jackson's thinking tonight, saying,er quote, jackson has grown frustrated with the nomination process and has told colleagues he may remove his name from consideration, according to two white house officials with knowledge of his deliberations. this comes as a summary released today by democrats on the senate veterans affairs committee details new allegation against jackson. this is incredible reading. they involve mishandling of opioids like percocet, writing prescriptions for himself and wrecking a government vehicle while intoxicated. today in a brief comment to nbc news, jackson denied any kind of car crash. >> i have not wrecked a car, i can tell you that. we're still moving ahead. thank you. >> the allegations against jackson

the longer answer of course is that jeff bennett laid out they have a free cabinet level post but scott pruit handled that contentious fox interview in a very trump way in that he doubled down and wasn't apologize gizing and when faced with the krcriticisms, he prais, praised, praised. that goes along with the president. >> good point there. can you give a yes, no, whether he stays or goes? what's your best estimate? >> for the time being he stays. unless one more big impactful story about a scott pruit scandal comes out, even though he's on thin ice he's on ice and he'll stick around for the time being. >> you two stick around certainly. i'll see you very soon again. look forward to it. thank you so much, ladies. >>> new details on the fire at trump tower in new york city. one was killed and six more injured. blake mccoy is live for us outside of trump tower with the latest. blake, the big question is what caused this fire? has that been made clear yet? >> reporter: not yet, alex. you can see a heavy fire department presence is here as they work to determine a cause of this deadly blaz

jeff zeleny and kate bennett also join us.ten in to the president of france. [ speaking french ] >> mr. president, first lady, dear melania, and dear friends. it is an honor for brigitte and myself to be here with our friends you were so kindly to invite. >> we'll go back to jeff zeleny and kate bennett. jeff, why is this the first state dinner? is it traditional that it's taken so long to have one? >> it's not, anderson. actually, this is a little longer than most state dinners. they're so -- it's no question, though, that the reason that france was picked for this was indeed because the trumps were invited last year to paris, to the bastille day parade, and they were treated to quite a show in paris. i remember it well. that's why the president decided to have france be the first state dinner here. and anderson, i am struck so much by watching the pre

nbc's jeff bennett is traveling with the president. jeff, what is the white house saying?aley was very clear on sunday. sanctions coming. how'd they hit the brakes? >> well, the reason there won't be at least for now a fresh round of sanctions is we're told president trump in consultation with his national security team is not comfortable with executing of them. remember just a couple days ago, president trump said russia would pay a big price for enabling syria's use of chemical weapons against civilians. it appears for now big price will not include a fresh round of sanctions. >> great, can you just pause one second? if they weren't -- if trump and his advisers weren't comfortable with it, nikki haley, why would they let her go out there and tell the world on sunday what the government was about to do if they hadn't approved it? they're making her look like a chump and it's not her fault. >> i would say you're right about that. we're working right now to get some more reporting on that. to give you a sense how it all came to be, nikki haley on sunday, saying this week th

. >> helping us to go over today's top stories, nbc white house correspondent jeff bennett, "time" magazine's jane newton small, and perry bacon. also, we're in mexico with those migrants who want to come to america. we're going to head to the white house and jeff first. jeff, the president is certainly reacting to this situation in syria. let's get the full picture of what he's saying. >> reporter: that's right. president trump is blaming former president obama. as you mentioned, he's also calling out russian president vladimir putin, saying that putin bears responsibility for this apparent deadly chemical weapons attack in syria. so the president earlier this morning issued three tweets about all of this. the president saying this, many dead, including women and children, in mindless chemical attack in syria. area of atrocity is lockdown and encircled by syrian army. president putin, russia, and iran are responsible for backing animal asad. big price to pay. open area immediately for medical help and verification. another humanitarian disaster for no reason whatsoever, sick. if president ob

. >> i want you to weigh in on something that jeff bennett said, there's a lot of pressure on michael cohen ever since the raid on his office and suite at the rea jency hotel. what's your sense of the pressure michael cohen is under and the concern within the president's inner circle how he might react to that. >> good afternoon, 25 minutes ago president trump tweeting out a total witch hunt exclamation point, it's clearly on the president's mind. to answer your question directly, it doesn't matter whether michael cohen flips or doesn't flip. you just hit the nail on the head. there was a raid on his offices and that information, that evidence or the documents, the e-mails and raid, all of that is information that investigators are going to be putting together. if he doesn't fully cooperate, then he's held in contempt of court. you know, whether or not he has loyalty to the president is kind of a mute point. what matters is what investigators are able to obtain from him. the perfect comparison here for all intents and purposes is anthony weiner. remember, there was his laptop that was

joining me from the white house, nbc news's jeff bennett. good afternoon to you. continues to be eventful around there. with respect to the tweets about amazon and immigration, they're very confusing. >> reporter: they are very confusing. i have to say that the confusion has continued and spread across other topics to include what you said about russia. heard the president twice today say that nobody has been tougher on russia than he's been. of course, you have a disconnect between the president's con speck with us silence to say anything critical of president vladimir putin, while his administration has taken steps to of course expel 60 diplomats, which the administration considers to be spies, intelligence agents, and steps to impose russia sanctions. and then on the issue of syria, last week the president said he wanted to withdraw 2,000 troops currently in syria today, did a bit of clean up work, saying he wants to stay there until the fight against isis is done. the president also said that he might consider staying if saudi arabia chooses to pay for the u.s

msnbc white house correspondent jeff bennett and usa today white house correspondent gregory corday. i'm going to west palm beach, florida where the president is staying. happy sunday to you, my friend. what are you hearing about the reports that the president's attorney might flip in order to avoid jail time? >> reporter: hey, good morning, alex. it's interesting. white house officials to this point had been working to try to put some distance in between president trump and michael cohen. sarah sanders, the white house press secretary when asked previously, wouldn't even confirm whether or not cohen still represents the president. and the reason for that is this. cohen, as we know, is under criminal investigation. that investigation is being carried out by prosecutors at the southern district of new york. the white house has very little transparency into that investigation and even less control over it. now, this question over whether or not cohen might flip on the president is the thing that we think set president trump off yesterday. he fired off more than a dozen tweets yesterday

. >> with details and analysis i'm joined by jeff bennett, media group of america's erin mcpike, and msnbc contributor kimberly atkins. welcome to all. i will start off with you, jeff, where the president is staying. first to the president on north korea. what all is he saying? >> reporter: hey there, alex, the president is pushing back against criticism from our own chuck todd and others who point out the criticism of the recent announcement from the regime as denuclearization is not that at all. there's this pledge from north korea that would suspend the testing of longer range missiles and shut down a nuclear testing site. in a tweet the president characterized that as denuclearization. in fact, that's one of the sticking points for the talks that are supposed to happen by late june, the president says. so that was what he handled in one tweet. in another tweet, alex, he says this. we are a long way from conclusion on north korea. maybe things will work out. maybe they won't. only time will tell. but the work i am doing now should have been done a long time ago. and there are, of c

. >> let's bring in nbc news white house correspondent jeff bennett with more on the president's reactiono that "new york times" report. what all is the president tweeting. he has been up and at them. >> he has, alex. good morning to you. look, if you thought like i did that the president might lay low today. might take it easy on twitter out of resepect for the funeral for former first lady barbara bush which is set to start in just a couple of hours then you would be wrong. as you mentioned the president fired off a tweet storm this morning we believe as he was headed from mar-a-lago to his private golf club here in south florida taking issue with the sorry in the "new york times" which paints a picture of the reasons why his longtime attorney michael cohen might flip on the president given that michael cohen we understand is facing some serious charges at least in part related to the work he has done for mr. trump. so i'm going the read the tweets. i beg your indulgence. there are three of them. here we go. the president writes this. the "new york times" and the third rate reporter nam

. >> jeff bennett, hans nichols, thank you. >>> president trump has been met with some criticism butome assessments say it worked. a number of democrats say the president still should have consulted congress. the ranking democrat in the house foreign affairs unit released a statement saying, quote, the administration wants to come to congress with a clear end to push for the end of the violence and a future for the country in which assad has no role in regime change. the president must come to congress for military action. republican john mccain saying the air strike worked but adding a comprehensive strategy is still needed. i turn now to that very ranking democrat, congressman elliot angle. thanks for being here on a saturday night. >> thank you for having me. >> seems like you are saying this may have worked for what it was but doesn't have a mission and needs authorization. barack obama as president also did a lot of strikes without authorization. same standard? >> same standard. first of all, the strike yesterday was fine. i think what assad has done to his own people is just ho

jeff bennett in florida with the president. to break down what's in these comey memos and what impact they could have on the special counsel investigation i'm joined by elizabeth hultsman, a former congressman involved in the watergate scandal and vetted to impeach president nixon while on the judiciary committee and mike memberaly. mike, it was 15 pages of e-mails that were dumped. some of it was redacted. some of it wasn't. what at large do we know that we didn't before we saw the memos. >> it is a good point you make. a lot of what we see in these 15 pages covering seven different conversations that jim comey had either with the president or other white house officials has been in the public domain already, either from comey's own testimony before congress, in his new book, or in some of the media interviews after. i think what's fascinating in terms of what we see in greater deal and with great details is the real state of mind both of the president and others in the white house during these first months of the administrati